Most of the world expects AI to take jobs, not create them. That’s the headline finding from a new Pew Research survey of 42,151 people across 37 countries, as detailed in The Verge AI. In 34 of those 37 countries, respondents were more likely to say AI will lead to job losses over the next 20 years than to say it will create new work.
What stands out here is the timing. Pew ran the fieldwork from February 8 to May 13, which The Verge AI notes was well before the latest round of apocalyptic warnings from AI executives. So this isn’t a panic reaction to headlines. It’s a baseline mood that already existed.
The numbers
Pew asked people in 37 countries how they expect AI to affect employment, daily life, and the gap between rich and poor. The job-loss fear is strongest in wealthy countries:
- Australia: 76 percent expect AI to cut jobs
- South Korea: 76 percent
- United States: 71 percent
On inequality, the global tilt runs the same direction. Respondents are more likely to say AI will widen the gap between rich and poor than narrow it. That belief is most common among people in wealthier countries who lean left politically, according to The Verge AI.
The overall mood isn’t pure dread, though. The global median breaks down like this:
- 41 percent feel equally concerned and excited about AI in daily life
- 37 percent are primarily concerned
- 13 percent are primarily excited
So roughly four in ten people sit in the middle. Only a small minority are outright enthusiastic.
Age splits the picture
Older respondents worry more about AI’s impact on daily life than younger ones. Younger adults, ages 18 to 34, are the most likely to hold mixed feelings about the technology and the world it’s shaping.
But that middle ground is shrinking. In Sweden, Poland, Japan, Australia, Brazil, and the US, concern among younger adults has climbed sharply over the past year. In the US and Sweden, young people are now about as worried about AI-driven job loss and inequality as older generations. The Verge AI connects this to warnings like Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s claim that AI could wipe out half of entry-level white-collar jobs. Those are exactly the jobs a 24-year-old is trying to land.
Why this matters
This is significant because it measures the customers, employees, and voters that AI companies depend on. A few practical takeaways:
- If you’re selling AI tools, lead with augmentation, not replacement. Only 13 percent of people are primarily excited. “This will do your job for you” is a losing pitch for most of the audience.
- If you’re rolling out AI inside a company, expect resistance and plan for it. Seven in ten Americans expect job losses. Silence from leadership reads as confirmation.
- If you’re early in your career, the anxiety is rational, so act on it. The people who learn to direct these tools will have a wider moat than the people who compete with them.
- Watch the politics. Left-leaning voters in rich countries already link AI to inequality. That’s the coalition that writes labor and tax rules, and this survey suggests they’re primed to act.
Limitations
The survey captures attitudes, not outcomes. People expecting job losses doesn’t mean job losses will happen at the rate they fear. The fieldwork also ended in May, so it misses whatever shift the summer’s warnings and product launches caused. And the 37-country sample skews toward places Pew can poll reliably, which leaves out large parts of Africa and Central Asia.
Still, the signal is clear. The public has already made up its mind that AI is coming for work. Whether the industry earns back some optimism depends on what it does with that knowledge over the next few years. The full breakdown by country and age is available at The Verge AI.