American Youth Growing Skeptical of AI

A Gallup survey of 1,572 Americans aged 14 to 29 shows a sharp decline in enthusiasm for artificial intelligence, with excitement falling from 36% to 22% and anger rising from 22% to 31% over one year. Respondents cite fears that AI erodes critical‑thinking skills, makes people lazier, and threatens job security. Experiments cited in the reports found that users who relied on AI performed worse when the tool was removed and often accepted AI answers without verification.

The shift in attitude was evident at several summer graduation ceremonies, where speakers praising AI were heckled. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt faced repeated objections at the University of Arizona, and a presenter at the University of Central Florida was mocked for calling AI “the next industrial revolution.” Meanwhile, comedian Ronny Chieng received applause at Harvard for joking that the new generation’s mission is to "destroy AI." On July 11, protesters gathered outside OpenAI’s headquarters in San Francisco, underscoring the growing backlash among U.S. youth.