Stanford report highlights growing disconnect between AI insiders and everyone else
AI experts and public opinion about the technology are increasingly divergent, according to Stanford University annual report about the AI industry, that was it issued Monday. In particular, the report finds a growing trend of anxiety around AI and, in the US, concerns about how the technology will impact key areas of society such as jobs, healthcare and the economy.
The report’s findings follow growing negative sentiment about AI, with Generation Z reportedly leading the way to a recent Gallup poll. The survey found that young people were becoming less hopeful and angrier about the technology, even though about half the population used AI on a daily or weekly basis.
For some working in the technology sector, the response to AI has come as a surprise. AI leaders have focused on managing the possibility of artificial general intelligence, or AGI – a theoretical form of AI superintelligence that could perform any task a human could do and think for itself. But ordinary people are more concerned about the impact of AI on their salaries and whether or not their energy bills will increase as energy-hungry data centers are built.
The divide is most visible in the online response to the recent attacks on OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home. In messages on X For example, AI insiders expressed surprise at a series of Instagram comments that appeared to praise the attack on Altman’s home. Some of the online comments have a similar atmosphere that circulated online after the shooting of the CEO of United Healthcare in 2024 and more recent fire at a Kimberly-Clark warehouse by a worker angry at not being paid a ‘living wage’ – with some comments even going so far as to suggest that further action, akin to a revolution, is needed.
The Stanford report offers more insight into where all this negativity is coming from, as it summarizes data on public sentiment about AI from a variety of sources.
For example, reference was made to a Pew Research report published last month, which noted that only 10% of Americans said they were more excited than concerned about the increased use of AI in everyday life. Meanwhile, 56% of AI experts said they believed AI would have a positive impact on the US over the next 20 years.
Expert opinions and public sentiment also varied widely in certain areas where AI could have a societal impact. According to the report’s authors, 84% of experts said AI would have a largely positive impact on medical care over the next twenty years, but only 44% of the American public said the same.
Furthermore, a majority (73%) of experts were positive about the impact of AI on the way people do their work, compared to just 23% of the public. And 69% of experts believed AI would have a positive impact on the economy. Datum the supposed AI-induced layoffs And disruptions to the workplaceit’s not surprising that only 21% of the audience felt the same way.
Other data from Pew Research cited in the report shows that AI experts are less pessimistic about AI’s impact on the labor market, with nearly two-thirds of Americans (or 64%) saying they think AI will lead to fewer jobs over the next 20 years.
The US also reported the lowest confidence in its government to regulate AI responsibly at 31%, compared to other countries. Singapore scores the highest at 81%, according to Ipsos data in the Stanford report.
Another source looked at regulatory concerns by state and found that nationally, 41% of respondents said federal AI regulation won’t go far enough, while only 27% said it would go “too far.”
Despite the fears and concerns, AI did receive one distinction: Globally, those who believe AI products and services offer more benefits than harm increased slightly from 55% in 2024 to 59% in 2025.
But at the same time, respondents who said AI makes them “nervous” grew from 50% to 52% over the same period, according to data cited by the report’s authors.
