Americans Fear AI’s Societal Impact and Don’t Believe Government Can Regulate It, Pew Study Finds

A new Pew Research Center study finds that 67% of Americans have little to no confidence in the U.S. government's ability to regulate AI, while 59% doubt U.S. companies can develop it responsibly. Roughly two-thirds believe AI is advancing too fast, and 40% think it will be worse for society, even as 49% of adults now use AI chatbots.

Roughly two-thirds of Americans believe AI is advancing at too fast a rate — even as a majority of adults are using chatbots, according to a new Pew Research Center https://variety.com/t/pew-research-center/ study examining U.S. sentiment toward the technology. The study also found that 40% of respondents believe AI will ultimately be worse for society — but most Americans don’t believe the U.S. government or U.S. businesses can effectively regulate its use. In the Pew report, released Wednesday, 67% of Americans had little to no confidence that the U.S. government could regulate the technology, while 59% had little to no confidence that U.S. companies could responsibly develop the technology. More Democrats than Republicans were skeptical of the government regulating AI. Taken together, the findings reflect Americans’ growing concern over whether the government or the businesses developing the technology are looking out for their best interests, particularly as tech companies experiment with increasingly sophisticated AI models https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-fable-5-mythos-5 and the government expands https://www.gsa.gov/about-gsa/newsroom/news-releases/gsa-xai-partner-to-accelerate-federal-ai-adoption-09252025 its partnerships https://openai.com/index/our-agreement-with-the-department-of-war/ with AI platforms. Popular on Variety “AI is no longer the future; for many, it’s here and now,” Pew Research Center associate director of research Jeffrey Gottfried said in a statement. “Americans are increasingly using chatbots and bringing AI into their homes, but they have a complex relationship with AI. They may use it, but they’re still highly skeptical of it and how it will impact our society.” The Pew report is based on a survey of 5,119 U.S. adults conducted in February. About half of U.S. adults 49% use AI chatbots, up from a third of respondents surveyed in 2024, and many reported that chatbots were more likely to boost their productivity and keep them better informed. The most common use case 42% of respondents was information searching, while others included tools for fun 25% , creating and editing images or videos 24% , medical advice 20% , and diet and fitness information 20% . Fewer used the models for things like news 13% , emotional support 10% or companionship 4% . Many companies have infused their bevy of online offerings with the technology, such as Microsoft’s incorporation of Copilot into its 365 suite and Google’s use of Gemini across Google Search and Drive. Still, ChatGPT remains the dominant chatbot among U.S. adults, with 44% of respondents using the OpenAI https://variety.com/t/openai/ application. Google Gemini ranked second with 24%, followed by Microsoft Copilot 17% , MetaAI 14% , Grok 8% , Claude 6% and Character.ai 3% . Many of the Americans surveyed also acknowledged using products with AI features, including smartwatches 37% and speakers, such as an Amazon Echo or Apple HomePod 35% . Of the 51% of U.S. adults who don’t use AI, 60% said it boiled down to disinterest. And when it comes to personal data, 71% of respondents agreed: AI will make it less secure. Pictured above: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman