Americans have become quite pessimistic about AI and its impact on jobs.
A new poll released Monday by Quinnipiac University found that 70% of Americans believe advances in artificial intelligence will lead to fewer job opportunities overall.
And 30% are concerned that their work will become obsolete.
This represents a significant increase compared to last year. In April 2025, the same pollster revealed that 21% of Americans said they were worried that their jobs would become obsolete.
Although that worry is relatively constant across age groups, there are some notable differences. Only 26% of Gen Z are worried about their jobs becoming obsolete, while 34% of Millennials say the same.
Additionally, 15% of Millennials said they were “very concerned,” compared to just 7% of Gen Z.
The increasing adoption of AI in the workplace has sparked heated debates about what it means, which jobs it will replace, and which jobs it will make more productive.
The poll also found that Americans have other concerns about AI, including regulation, data centers and the military.
65% of Americans say they oppose building AI data centers in their communities, and 74% don’t think the government is doing enough to regulate the technology. Additionally, 55% believe AI will do more harm than good in their daily lives.
And amid a dispute between Anthropic and the Department of Defense over the use of AI in war, 51% of Americans said they oppose the military’s use of AI to select targets.
The Quinnipiac poll was conducted March 19-23 and surveyed approximately 1,400 U.S. adults. The margin of error was 3.3 percentage points.