# The AI Industry Has Acted So Badly That It’s Now Dealing With a Huge Wave of Hatred

> Source: <https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-industry-ads-public-backlash>
> Published: 2026-07-27 13:51:49+00:00

The tech overlords pushing the AI boom are quickly wearing out what little welcome they had.

You may have noticed big-name AI labs pushing new commercials lately. Meta’s new [60-second ad spot](https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1344461651205053) insists that the “future is for everyone,” even as CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s personal net worth eclipses the GDP of Hungary. Anthropic’s [new commercial](https://youtu.be/jVbGX7zJHi8?si=eW83AvqDpxeT0mAO) for Claude assures viewers that there’s “hope in hard questions,” seemingly embracing the discomfort that comes when your software is used to [bomb elementary schools](https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/pentagon-ai-claude-bombing-elementary-school) in Iran.

For as magnanimous as these new PR stunts appear on the surface, a vast swathe of the public they’re meant to sway are rejecting the industry’s faux-populism messaging out of hand, as the cost of AI — born out in [inflation](https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-data-centers-opposition-inflation), [data center pollution](https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/pollution-ai-data-centers-severe), [fears of job loss](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/20/ai-job-worries-human-skills-machines-cant-replace) and [mental health concerns](https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/paper-proposes-ai-psychosis) — becomes too much to bear.

According to data compiled by [Pew Research](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/03/12/key-findings-about-how-americans-view-artificial-intelligence/), 40 percent of US adults predict AI will have a negative impact on society writ large, compared to just 16 percent who say it’ll have a positive effect. A whole 31 percent of those surveyed think AI will have negative consequences for themselves, personally, over the next 20 years.

As disgust with AI itself grows, so too does resistance to the hardware embodying its rise.

Per a separate poll by [Gallup](https://news.gallup.com/poll/709772/americans-oppose-data-centers-area.aspx), flagged [by Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-anthropic-ads-trust-us-defensive-2026-7), an astonishing three-quarters of US adults are now resolutely opposed to hyperscale data centers popping up near their home. City councils are increasingly

[forced to reconcile](https://futurism.com/science-energy/data-centers-protests-electricity)with landowners hostile to any AI data center appearing in their district, putting

[significant strain](https://futurism.com/science-energy/data-centers-construction-supply)on developers hoping to gorge themselves on the fruits of the AI boom. Protests against AI companies are flaring up across the country, with

[142 protests across 42 states in one day alone.](https://time.com/article/2026/07/22/community-backlash-ai-data-centers/)

*Time*reportingBeyond data centers, a decentralized but highly-motivated movement is growing around the chopping, hacking, and outright sabotage of [AI-integrated surveillance cameras](https://futurism.com/future-society/redditors-flock-surveillance-alpr-vandalism-memes). A parallel struggle is being waged around [AI-integrated surveillance drones](https://futurism.com/future-society/americans-raging-police-drones), with organizers in cities like [Minneapolis](https://mndaily.com/city/minneapolis-city-council-strikes-down-controversial-police-contract-with-drone-pilot-program/07/23/2026/eicmndaily-com/) beating back ambitious police dragnets.

So if you’re a tech executive trying to win back the masses to the AI revolution, take note: it’s gonna take a lot more than a few smarmy commercials to solve your PR problem.

**More on AI: **[Google’s Profits Look a Little Terrifying Under the Hood](https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/google-ai-profits-finance-bubble-alphabet)