Think young people are charging eagerly into an A.I.-mediated future? Think again.
More than half of Gen Z-ers living in the United States use generative artificial intelligence regularly, but their feelings about the technology are souring, according to a new survey released on Thursday by Gallup, the Walton Family Foundation and GSV Ventures, a venture capital firm that works in education technology.
The percentage of respondents ages 14 to 29 who said they felt hopeful about A.I. declined sharply since last year, down to 18 percent from 27. Young adults’ excitement about artificial intelligence dropped, too, and nearly a third of respondents indicated that the technology made them feel angry.
The survey of more than 1,500 people was conducted in February and March. Its results suggest that Americans’ animosity toward A.I. extends to a younger generation — one that is currently struggling to find its footing in the workplace.
“In most of these cases, Gen Z-ers have become increasingly skeptical, increasingly negative — from a place where even last year, they weren’t particularly positive about it,” said Zach Hrynowski, a senior education researcher for Gallup who worked on the survey.
He said he had been surprised by how noticeably young people’s attitudes had shifted. Many respondents did acknowledge that A.I. might make them more efficient in school and the workplace, he said. But they were concerned about how the technology would affect their creativity and critical thinking skills.
Young adults in the work force were especially skeptical. Close to half of those surveyed said the risks of artificial intelligence outweighed its potential benefits in the workplace, an 11-point jump from the previous year. Only 15 percent said they saw A.I. as a net benefit.
The findings arrive as parents, students and policymakers debate how much of a role A.I. systems should play in young people’s lives. Members of Gen Z have been turning to bots like ChatGPT for relationship advice and help with schoolwork. Some are using the tools to outsource complex, weighty decisions like where to attend college.
In the study, about half of young people reported using A.I. on either a daily or weekly basis, similar to the previous year. Just under 20 percent said they did not use A.I.
“We just haven’t seen increased adoption over the past year, even though I think more and more Gen Z-ers are saying they have access to these tools,” Mr. Hrynowski said. The youngest members of the generation were the most likely to say they used A.I. frequently, he added.
In interviews, young adults cited a variety of reasons for their reservations about artificial intelligence, including the threat to entry-level jobs, the replacement of human interaction and the spread of A.I.-fueled misinformation on social media.
Sydney Gill, 19, a freshman at Rice University in Houston, said she had been optimistic about artificial intelligence as a learning tool when she was in high school. Now, as she tries to select her college major, her outlook has become less rosy.
“I feel like anything that I’m interested in has the potential of maybe getting replaced, even in the next few years,” she said.
Abigail Hackett, 27, who works in the tourism and hospitality industry near Anchorage, said she had found some A.I. tools to be time savers at work. She does not use A.I. much in her personal life, though, because she said she does not want her social muscles to atrophy.
“I still feel hesitant in using it to draft my communications to other people, just because I think some of those things are very human, and I’d like to keep them that way,” said Ms. Hackett, who took part in the Gallup survey.
Other survey respondents like Ryan Guckian, 30, a software tester in Detroit, were more enthusiastic adopters. He said he used ChatGPT on a daily basis for tasks like digging through lines of code and brainstorming recipe ideas for his anniversary with his girlfriend.
“In general, what I’ve seen hasn’t scared me too much,” he said. He recently came across some A.I.-generated videos of yetis on social media. He thought they were funny.
Despite their mixed feelings, many young people believe that some measure of A.I. fluency will be critical as they mature. Close to half of respondents who had not yet graduated from high school predicted that they would need to know how to use A.I. in their future careers.
And there may still be room for young people’s attitudes toward artificial intelligence to evolve. Out of all the emotional responses measured by the survey, the one most widely reported by respondents was curiosity.
Callie Holtermann reports on style and pop culture for The Times.
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