More people around the world expect AI to cause job loss instead of creating jobs in the next 20 years, a study by Pew Research Center found.
In the U.S., 71% of respondents predicted that AI will lead to fewer jobs, an increase of 7% over the past two years. The global average sharing this belief was 46%, with only Australia and South Korea beating the United States, at 76% each.
The study looked at opinions on AI from 50,838 people – 8,687 from the U.S. – in 37 middle- and high-income countries between February and June. Wealthier countries tended to worry more about job loss, though in many countries, uncertainty also dominated responses, despite rising awareness of AI.
"It's not necessarily that they think it will create more jobs typically,”
Pew Associate Director of Research Laura Silver said of the uncertain respondents. “It's that higher shares within each country say they don't know how it will impact jobs.”
The year 2025 saw a historically low number of added jobs by employers in the U.S, without much bounce-back this year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. May saw some growth, but in July, 23,000 jobs were cut, with AI leading all reasons companies cited for the cuts, according to a Challenger, Gray and Christmas report.
The Pew study found that concern over job loss was more common among young adults between ages 18 and 34, though there was a smaller gap in concern between the age groups in the U.S. compared to other countries. Entry-level positions are often the first to be cut as AI replaces early career work.
Older adults were not more optimistic about AI creating jobs, they were just more unsure.
“One of the interesting patterns about the U.S., I think, is that it's kind of been younger people who have shifted more in the last few years than older people, particularly on things like concern about jobs,” Silver said. "I wouldn't necessarily describe it as more stable. It's just kind of under the hood.”
Concerns about AI have been rising in many countries, but remained relatively stable in the United States since last year, growing only 2 percentage points. Adults under 35 reported the most concern, however, which is “a notable departure from five years ago, when older people were somewhat more concerned,” the report said.
Older adults in the U.S. also reported being more aware of AI, reading and hearing more about it than older adults in other countries.
“One thing that we know from much research on technology is that often it diffuses through younger people before it gets to older people,” Silver said, citing social media usage as an example.
This slow initial adoption of technology that picks up speed until it plateaus "might be part of what we're seeing here where younger people are more aware of these more digitally native things like AI than older people, at least kind of at the beginning,” she added.
Income, gender and awareness of AI also affected job prediction. Women and higher-income people in general were more likely to think AI will cause job loss, as were people who reported having read or heard a lot about the technology.
In many countries, those reporting higher awareness of AI tended to feel more optimistic about it. Japan leads in AI awareness, with 56% of respondents reporting they have heard or read a lot about AI. The U.S. saw the same percentage of respondents – 48% – reporting that they were very aware and not very aware.
The survey also looked at attitudes on whether AI will increase the gap between the rich and poor. No countries surveyed saw more than 25% of respondents believing that it will decrease.
The U.S., Australia and South Korea topped this list too, with most respondents believing that AI will increase economic inequality.
Similar to job loss, young adults were more likely to think that AI will increase the gap. In the U.S, this was 56% of adults under 35, compared to 38% of adults over 50.
Other countries saw the opposite: In Argentina, Chile, Hungary, Italy and Peru, older people are more likely to say AI will increase this gap.
Contributing: Rachel Barber, USA TODAY
Greta Reich covers the artificial intelligence industry for USA TODAY through a fellowship from the Tarbell Center for AI Journalism. Funders do not provide editorial input.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: People fear AI will cause job loss, not growth, new survey finds
