Pew survey: most of the world believes AI will destroy jobs, not create them

Fear crosses borders. A new global Pew Research survey draws a clear picture: in 34 of 37 countries polled, a majority of the public is convinced that artificial intelligence will cause net job losses over the next two decades. The survey, which covered 42,151 respondents between February and mid-May, was conducted before the latest wave of apocalyptic warnings, making the figures a relatively stable baseline rather than a momentary panic reaction.

Wealthy nations are more worried. The anxiety clusters in advanced economies: Australia and South Korea lead with 76 percent expecting job losses, while the United States follows closely at 71 percent. Those numbers echo a warning from Dario Amodei, chief executive of Anthropic: "AI could eliminate half of entry-level white-collar positions." When the CEOs building the technology talk about losing half the juniors, the public listens.

Gaps and inequality. Beyond employment, a global median of respondents believes AI will widen the gap between rich and poor. That perception is especially strong in wealthy countries that lean left politically — a correlation worth noting when trying to understand where regulatory pushback originates.

The young are feeling the pressure. Age shifts the angle: older adults are more troubled by the impact on daily life, but younger adults (18–34) are the ones developing genuine anxiety. In Sweden, Poland, Japan, Australia, Brazil and the United States, concern among that demographic jumped sharply over the past year, to the point where they have overtaken older cohorts in fear of losing livelihoods and deepening inequality. Mixed feelings are one thing, but the trend is clear: anxiety is winning.

Not everything is bleak. Still, the picture is not one-dimensional. 41 percent of respondents worldwide report feeling equally concerned and excited, 37 percent are mostly concerned, and only 13 percent are mostly excited. Those numbers remind us that the public is not buying the hype without reservations, but neither is it rejecting the technology outright. It simply does not know where this is headed, and that is exactly what scares it.