More People Hate AI Than Those Who Love It. Why?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has existed in some form for years, longer than most people realize, but as of the middle of 2026, it’s not becoming more popular. In fact, research and popular opinion indicate that most people hate AI and don’t feel positive about it. 

A survey by NBC News in early March ’26 found that when people feel strongly about AI, it’s negative, not positive. Nearly half of the 1,000 surveyed felt negatively toward the technology. By comparison, about a quarter of those surveyed expressed positive feelings about AI. The rest of the group was neither hot nor cold on the topic.

• You could look at those NBC Survey results and say that more than half of respondents felt positive or at least not outwardly negative about AI. But is that accurate?

Are the people who hate AI worried about it? Survey says “yes.”

The Pew Research Center, however, a U.S.-based nonpartisan “fact tank” that studies and reports on public opinion, took a different approach in a survey on AI—they asked adults whether they felt either excited or “more concerned” about Artificial Intelligence, based on what they knew about it. That approach likely gave a more accurate read on the general population’s attitude. Here’s how they responded to questions about AI.

• Question: Are you more concerned about AI than excited by it?
• Answer: Half of adults in the U.S. said they’re “more concerned.”
• Question: Are you equally concerned about and excited about AI?
• Answer: Close to 40% said they feel a “mix of the two.”

Here’s the question that puts attitudes about AI into perspective:

• Question: Are you more excited about AI than you are concerned about it?
• Answer: Only 10% in the PEW survey said they were mostly excited.

In a different survey from 2026, the Pew Research Center found that 40% of U.S. adults felt that AI would have a negative impact on society—in contrast, only 16% thought the impact would be positive! 

If so many people hate AI, why do others simply love it?

The Pew Research Center also reported that half of U.S. grown-ups have tried using an AI “chatbot” to some degree. Not only are those percentages growing fast, but as people use chatbots to help manage work, life, and recreation, they’re loving it more.

Like politics (or politicians), AI brings out strong feelings for and against it. And it’s not necessarily driven by age, education, or social status. Many younger people hate AI and want to distance themselves from the latest technology, even though they grew up as digital natives.

So, what do so many people hate or like about AI? What are the pros and cons? Here’s a look:

Why do people who are using AI like it:

In short, amazing things you always wished you could do are now doable with AI.

1. “It’s extremely efficient!” AI, especially chatbots and AI agents, can do in seconds what would take a team of people hours.
2. “It delivers an immediate boost when you’re creating something new.” AI can generate ideas, summarize plots, create music, and more, giving creatives a much-needed head start and edge, helping produce new material.”
3. “It puts futuristic innovation in our hands today.” Industries from medicine to automotive are discovering amazing solutions to challenges that were once unsolvable without AI.
4. “It delivers instant, data-driven solutions.” What might take a research team weeks to analyze and produce reports can be done almost instantly.
5. “It’s always there when you need it.” There are no more 9-to-5 office hours or “closed on weekends” with AI.

Why Some People Hate AI.

People who hate AI, even if they don’t know much about it, are sure it will ruin the world:

1. “It’s putting people out of work!” There’s a lot of truth to that, or at least it’s an easy assessment. It doesn’t help that companies seem to be laying off employees in large numbers, and that AI is a given reason for it. 
2. “It costs too much for businesses.” Companies that already have a lot of money are pouring billions into AI to gain an advantage. Where does that leave small and medium-sized companies with less funding and fewer resources?
3. “It’s not treating all people equally.” AI bases everything it produces on what it collects and has collected historically and digitally across the universe, as well as on what technical people program into it. Those people may have natural, inherent, or societal prejudices, which AI might adopt and build on, benefiting some groups but not others.
4. “It’s only going to worsen the privacy and security worries.” It’s no secret that hackers and cyberthieves use the latest technology to improve their own “businesses.” AI has proven to be the best tool they’ve ever had, and it will only get better for them and worse for us.
5. “AI tries to imitate humans but doesn’t have a truly emotional or creative side.” You may admire or fall in love with a character in a movie or video game, but you know that character is fictional, not real. Neither is AI. When it tries to act human, it can fall woefully short or give bad advice.

And yet—the Pew Research Center also reported in 2026 that half of U.S. adults have tried using an AI “chatbot” to some extent. Not only are those percentages rising quickly, but as people use chatbots to help manage work, life, and recreation, they’re loving them more. 

Hollywood saw doomsday coming.

Without a doubt, AI in the hands of well-intentioned people can achieve incredible feats that benefit society. Conversely, in the hands of evildoers and “bad actors,” AI can lead the world into dangerous waters.

Leave it to the Hollywood moviemakers to see mostly the doom that might arise from advanced technology. And that hasn’t been just recently:

• 1968: “2001: A Space Odyssey.” In this groundbreaking film, HAL 9000, a spacecraft’s onboard computer, attempts to take over operations from the astronauts.
•  1983: “War Games.” In a light-hearted drama, the world comes close to nuclear war when a young hacker accidentally presses a few wrong keys while playing a computer game.
• 1984, 1991: “Terminator” and “Terminator 2.” This movie franchise features cyborg, humanoid Terminators, as well as Skynet, an advanced technology that has achieved “superintelligence” and is out to destroy the world. 

There are plenty of people who say we’re quickly nearing that kind of doomsday with AI, while the happy-go-lucky crowd simply keeps playing with—and blindly enjoying—their seemingly innocent and benevolent new technology toy.

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