AI is dominating the economy and at the top of policy agendas. Ads for it are everywhere. Your favorite artist is probably experimenting with it. And as hundreds of billions of dollars get poured into the tech, it can feel like the whole world is holding its breath for when it somehow becomes superintelligent and magically ushers us into a utopic age. The optimism is breathless and inescapable.

But if you're feeling anxious about AI, you're not alone.

An overwhelming 71 percent of Americans are worried that AI will put vast swaths of the workforce permanently out of a job, according to a new Reuters poll conducted with the firm Ipsos — a proportion that stands in stunning contrast to the absurd levels of hype being blasted out of the AI industry.

The survey, which polled over 4,400 adults this month, also found that 67 percent of respondents believed that AI will have consequences beyond our control. And 47 percent said outright that AI is bad for humanity, compared to less than a third who said that it wasn't.

Job destruction was one of the top concerns, and for good reason. It's already happening at a smaller scale, with some CEOs publicly gloating about replacing their workers with AI agents. And industry leaders like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have frequently said their systems could wipe out entire professions and automate parts of the economy. 

But the largest portion of respondents, 77 percent, said that they were concerned about "political chaos" caused by US rivals, such as AI being used to generate disinformation, including videos depicting events that never happened. (Reuters notes how president Trump recently shared an AI-faked video of former president Obama getting arrested in the White House in front of him.) Meanwhile, 61 percent worried about the tech's voracious electricity demands.

Another recent survey, conducted by advocacy group TechEquity and highlighted by tech journalist Brian Merchant in his newsletter Blood in the Machine, also illustrates Americans' dampening enthusiasm for a technology propped up by hype. Specifically, it interviewed Californians — whose state, as the home of Silicon Valley, is uniquely positioned to pass laws reining in the industry while federal regulators, under Trump's direction, are letting them off the leash.

Of the over 1,400 Californians who responded to the survey, 55 percent were more concerned than excited about AI, compared to just 33 percent who said they were excited about the tech. And 59 percent believed that AI will "most likely benefit the wealthiest households and corporations."

Most striking of all, 70 percent of Californians believed there's a need for "strong laws" regulating AI and AI companies.

These are damning numbers in a state that, we can't stress enough, is the locus of the American tech industry and where nearly 1.5 million people are employed by tech companies.

"Californians are more concerned than excited about advancements in AI," TechEquity CEO Catherine Bracy told Merchant. "Many feel it is advancing too fast, and are concerned about AI-fueled job loss, wage stagnation, privacy violations, and discrimination."

Echoing the Reuters poll, deepfakes were the top concern (64 percent), followed by disinformation (59 percent). But wage reduction, privacy concerns, and the loss of jobs were also flagged as concerns by the majority of Californians who said they were worried about AI.

"Our polling finds Californians echoing what we are seeing in poll after poll from across the country: voters are telling their representatives not to trust tech companies to self-govern," Bracy told Merchant. "And this is not because they are anti-technology. It's because they want companies to be held accountable, and aren't willing to sacrifice safety and fairness for innovation."

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