AI is inherently unreliable and untrustworthy. In this case, distrust is not just some emotional reaction but pretty well grounded in fact.
Once lawyers learn this themselves from experience, I expect they will move toward legally impressing this upon any who are slow/reluctant to admit as much.
Using technology that is widely known to be flawed for any sort of serious work is a textbook example of "negligence".
- Potential job loss, particularly in the bottom half or so of jobs.
- Further wealth inequality due to so many factors but primarily because the companies providing these tools will capture the dollars that would’ve been spent on the jobs mentioned above.
- NIMBY-ism. AI = data centers and people are overwhelmingly deciding they don’t want these near their homes. I live in the Midwest and it’s been amazing how much opposition has been showing up for these projects.
Of course all of these are based on the speculation and “promises” of the tech. Many feel the time is to act now rather than once it’s too late, on the off chance these things do happen.
> the uniquely American animosity toward artificial intelligence
The poll they cite shows this is clearly not unique: https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/10/15/concern-and-ex.... The US is (just barely) at the top, but no country is anywhere close to "more excited than concerned", and several countries are basically equal to the US.
I live in America so that's my perspective, but I would be surprised if this article couldn't accurately describe a lot of other countries.
For me it's oversaturation. AI "features" are getting pushed into every product whether I want them or not. I've found AI useful in some contexts, but having it forced in everywhere screams desperation. Do people actually want this stuff or are companies just hoping they do?
U.S. is most media saturated realm in the world. Americans minds have been saturated by artificial information for 50 years and since mid-2000 FAANG the American psyche is cracking apart with the strain. In 2025 AI is amplifying the psychic chaos and creating an economic existential disaster while accelerating the most tragic and corrosive aspects of monetary wealth. But others than this, what's to hate?
Everyone - not just America - hates AI, because it has now become clear that the tool isn't a way to empower the masses (as it was initially sold) but instead to move power and wealth up the ladder. Automated (shit) customer support. AI interviewing. Brainrot content creation. Deepfakes. Parasocial relationships. Dangerous medical advice/therapy. Propaganda. Surveillance.
AI is simply not making anyone's life better, so what's there to love exactly?
I think people see through it as a way for corporations to cut spending and jobs while offering a lower quality product.
My apartment complex recently switched to an "AI assistant" that replaced the front office person. I haven't heard a single positive thing about it from anybody. It's utterly terrible, and they're absolutely not "passing the savings on" to residents by lowering rents.
Even with "vibe coding", we accept that it does a shit job, because it does an "okay enough" shit job that it's often usable, but nobody wants to maintain "vibe code".
"Why do Americans dislike what billionaires like?"
The whiny petulant owner class punches down on the commoners again. To those so privileged: I prefer my privacy and sanity to that of your goofy futuristic fever dreams. Please knock it off. If you want me to build a statue in your honor then fix healthcare.
A few years ago in my lefty friend circles, everyone was talking about grabber’s “bullshit jobs” and how we’ve built a system to keep us occupied with meaningless busy work.
But now AI is threatening (promising?) to make those jobs go away, and the same folks are pissed.
If you wanted people to get on board with this, there should probably some sort of UBI/expansive social safety net in place because it turns out that if people have to choose between unfulfilling drudgery and not affording food… people take the drudgery
We're going to build a massive data center in your town. In one day, it will use as much electricity as you use in 10 years, and will produce more written words than you could write in 10 lifetimes. Its main purpose will be to eliminate your job, but it will have other uses, like generating images of your daughter in a bikini.
We do this in the hopes that it makes me (not you) very rich. Sounds good? Just kidding, we're not asking you!
I feel like it's because the people pushing it have a terrible track record. They've shown themselves to be manipulative, untrustworthy, and willing to do whatever it takes to make themselves rich. Why should we trust them with AI?
In better hands the technology would probably make the world a better place. But not in the hands of silicon valley billionaires.
The bucket they're referring to is labeled "more concerned than excited." It seems like rounding that to "hate" (in the headline) is misleading?
People can be "more concerned than excited" about the future while still using ChatGPT (or Claude Code) a lot. Even much of the management and workers at top AI labs could be put in the "more concerned than excited" bucket.
Maybe the headline should be "Why are Americans more concerned than excited about AI?"
Because it's a marginal improvement and though useful it's being sold by degenerate tech grifters as the science fiction dream come true to increase their influence and wealth. Everyone is sick and tired of these overgrown teenagers running amok.
One hypothesis might be the crony administrations embrace of AI with no apparent checks on their behavior.
Zuck can get an audience with the President, who can basically override any so-called independent agencies determinations. Congress is neutered and SCOTUS seems to enable this behavior. All while our power bills go up and we fuel data centers by polluting our environment
So I wonder if it’s not just AI, it’s AI with seemingly no recourse from the public to check capitalist excesses.
As an experienced software engineer, I’m incredibly excited about what AI is going to be able to do, like on a scale of 1-10, I’m an 8.
As a citizen, who doesn’t trust the government, or the media, or giant corporations, I’m also an 8/10 concerned.
That means I’m equally concerned about AI as I am excited, I might be more concerned than someone who isn’t excited at all about AI 1/10, but who is mildly concerned with a 5/10.
The current AI bubble seems like a bad proposition for most people regardless of how it shakes out. The way I've seen it described elsewhere is: either the bubble pops, causing a significant recession or it doesn't and loads of people lose their livelihoods to AI. In either case average people lose.
The problems with AI aren't technical they are political and economical. This topic is discussed in Max Tegmark's "Life 3.0", in which he theorises about various outcomes if we do invent AGI. He describes one possibility where we move to a post-scarcity society and people spends their days doing art and whatever else they fancy. Another option looks more like the world described in Elysium. I suspect the latter prediction feels more likely to most people.
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[ 4.2 ms ] story [ 43.0 ms ] threadLawyers use it to draft legal briefs.
Court sanctions lawyers for fake citations generated by AI.
https://natlawreview.com/article/court-sanctions-attorneys-s...
AI is inherently unreliable and untrustworthy. In this case, distrust is not just some emotional reaction but pretty well grounded in fact.
Once lawyers learn this themselves from experience, I expect they will move toward legally impressing this upon any who are slow/reluctant to admit as much.
Using technology that is widely known to be flawed for any sort of serious work is a textbook example of "negligence".
- Potential job loss, particularly in the bottom half or so of jobs.
- Further wealth inequality due to so many factors but primarily because the companies providing these tools will capture the dollars that would’ve been spent on the jobs mentioned above.
- NIMBY-ism. AI = data centers and people are overwhelmingly deciding they don’t want these near their homes. I live in the Midwest and it’s been amazing how much opposition has been showing up for these projects.
Of course all of these are based on the speculation and “promises” of the tech. Many feel the time is to act now rather than once it’s too late, on the off chance these things do happen.
The poll they cite shows this is clearly not unique: https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/10/15/concern-and-ex.... The US is (just barely) at the top, but no country is anywhere close to "more excited than concerned", and several countries are basically equal to the US.
I live in America so that's my perspective, but I would be surprised if this article couldn't accurately describe a lot of other countries.
AI is simply not making anyone's life better, so what's there to love exactly?
My apartment complex recently switched to an "AI assistant" that replaced the front office person. I haven't heard a single positive thing about it from anybody. It's utterly terrible, and they're absolutely not "passing the savings on" to residents by lowering rents.
Even with "vibe coding", we accept that it does a shit job, because it does an "okay enough" shit job that it's often usable, but nobody wants to maintain "vibe code".
The whiny petulant owner class punches down on the commoners again. To those so privileged: I prefer my privacy and sanity to that of your goofy futuristic fever dreams. Please knock it off. If you want me to build a statue in your honor then fix healthcare.
But now AI is threatening (promising?) to make those jobs go away, and the same folks are pissed.
If you wanted people to get on board with this, there should probably some sort of UBI/expansive social safety net in place because it turns out that if people have to choose between unfulfilling drudgery and not affording food… people take the drudgery
We're going to build a massive data center in your town. In one day, it will use as much electricity as you use in 10 years, and will produce more written words than you could write in 10 lifetimes. Its main purpose will be to eliminate your job, but it will have other uses, like generating images of your daughter in a bikini.
We do this in the hopes that it makes me (not you) very rich. Sounds good? Just kidding, we're not asking you!
In better hands the technology would probably make the world a better place. But not in the hands of silicon valley billionaires.
The bucket they're referring to is labeled "more concerned than excited." It seems like rounding that to "hate" (in the headline) is misleading?
People can be "more concerned than excited" about the future while still using ChatGPT (or Claude Code) a lot. Even much of the management and workers at top AI labs could be put in the "more concerned than excited" bucket.
Maybe the headline should be "Why are Americans more concerned than excited about AI?"
Zuck can get an audience with the President, who can basically override any so-called independent agencies determinations. Congress is neutered and SCOTUS seems to enable this behavior. All while our power bills go up and we fuel data centers by polluting our environment
So I wonder if it’s not just AI, it’s AI with seemingly no recourse from the public to check capitalist excesses.
As a citizen, who doesn’t trust the government, or the media, or giant corporations, I’m also an 8/10 concerned.
That means I’m equally concerned about AI as I am excited, I might be more concerned than someone who isn’t excited at all about AI 1/10, but who is mildly concerned with a 5/10.
The problems with AI aren't technical they are political and economical. This topic is discussed in Max Tegmark's "Life 3.0", in which he theorises about various outcomes if we do invent AGI. He describes one possibility where we move to a post-scarcity society and people spends their days doing art and whatever else they fancy. Another option looks more like the world described in Elysium. I suspect the latter prediction feels more likely to most people.