--- title: "AI Backlash Grew Massively in 2025" description: "2025 will be remembered as the year AI's novelty faded and public skepticism became one of the dominant attitudes." date: "2025-12-27" modified: "2025-12-27" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-backlash-2025" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Ethics" --- # AI Backlash Grew Massively in 2025 ![2025 will be remembered as the year AI's novelty faded and public skepticism became one of the dominant attitudes.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Getty Images* For the tech of the future, generative AI sure is making a lot of enemies in a very short time. If 2023 was the year of AI's awakening and 2024 the year of its frantic adoption, then it's safe to say 2025 will be remembered as the year it all came crashing back down to reality. From [boardrooms]() to [classrooms](), from [game studios]() to [Senate committees](), this will be the year many remember as the one when AI finally wore out its welcome. For many small towns throughout the US, the AI boom has come wafting in on a cloud of noxious smog that critics say is leading to to [increased cancer risk]() and [hostile takeovers]() of local infrastructure, not to mention [skyrocketing electricity bills](). That being the case, it's no surprise a huge number of rural communities have spent the year [organizing and agitating]() to shut down the tech industry's data center projects wherever they pop up. Indeed, from the [Great Lakes]() to the [Pacific Northwest](), it seems the one thing people can agree on is that the data centers [powering the AI gold rush]() make horrible neighbors. Beyond the data centers, AI is helping corporations increase the rate at which they exploit workers — both [on the job]() and at home. Back in spring, for example, Visa announced plans to let [AI agents loose]() on customers' financial information, [one of many companies]() to experiment with a pivot to AI customer service. Of course, most Americans would rather bash their heads against the wall then talk to an AI customer service agent — not that there's much of a difference, they'd argue — as [consumer sentiment surveys]() show. The hatred is so palpable that Americans have even taken to accusing [human customer service agents]() of being AI when they don't get their way. Corporate big wigs aren't the only ones getting fat off the AI boom, to be sure. With newfound tools to pump out ultra-realistic content at an industrial scale, [Facebook scammers](), [art forgers](), and [racist influencers]() are also getting in on the fun. This kind of wild west approach has fueled a rise in protest movements like Pause AI, a group calling for a halt of AI development until we can figure out what the hell is going on. 2025 even gave us our first anti-AI hunger strikes, spontaneous protests by activists in [San Francisco]() and [London](). Others have risen up against [AI-powered surveillance dragnets]() powered by companies like Flock Safety. Amidst the outcry, a handful of politicians in the US seem to have taken notice. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, for example, recently [kicked off a campaign]() calling for a pause on the "unregulated sprint to develop and deploy AI." He's joined in his crusade by New York representative [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez](), who recently blasted Republican legislators for their attempts to pass a 10-year ban on [state regulation of AI](). Though the two progressive lawmakers might not have much support from their [Democratic colleagues](), they're joined by divisive right-wing figures like Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who have defied their own Republican party in voicing opposition to AI initiatives. "I'm not buying the narrative that they are trying to sell us on this," DeSantis said at a recent roundtable on AI, [according to the ]()*[Washington Times]()*. **More on AI:** *[Professor Warns That the Wealthy Are Trying to Use AI to Seize Control of Everything]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()