A majority of Americans believe artificial intelligence will do more harm than good in their daily lives, even as their own use of AI tools has risen sharply over the past year. A Quinnipiac University poll released March 30, 2026, found that 55% of respondents said AI will do more harm than good, an 11-point increase from April 2025. 80 percent expressed concern about AI, while only 35% said they were excited about it.
Usage tells a different story. 51% of Americans reported using AI tools for research, up from 37% a year earlier. The share who said they had never used AI tools dropped from 33% to 27%. Yet 76% said they trust AI-generated information only some of the time or hardly ever, and just 3% said they trust it almost all of the time.
70% of respondents said AI advances are likely to reduce the number of available jobs. Gen Z was the most pessimistic generation on employment, with 81% expecting fewer job opportunities, compared to 67% of Gen X and 66%of baby boomers. Only 15% of Americans said they would be willing to work for an AI supervisor that assigned tasks and set schedules.
On education, 64% said AI would do more harm than good. Healthcare was the lone area of ambivalence: 43%saw more good than harm, while 45% saw more harm than good. 65% opposed the construction of an AI data center in their community. 74% said the government is not doing enough to regulate AI.
The poll surveyed 1,397 adults nationwide between March 19 and 23, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points. The survey was conducted in collaboration with the Quinnipiac University School of Computing and Engineering and the School of Business.
