AI is feared globally as the destroyer of jobs
The Verge Thomas Ricker ● Covered by 112 sources
Pew found most people in 34 of 37 countries think AI will cut jobs, not add them. The fear is strongest in rich countries like Australia, South Korea and the US.
Based on reporting by The Verge, Thomas Ricker — read the original for the full story.
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Pew Research just put numbers on a feeling that has been building for a while: across most of the world, people think AI is more likely to take work away than create it. The survey reached 42,151 people in 37 countries, with interviews running from February 8 to May 13.
The headline result is blunt. In 34 of the 37 countries, respondents were more likely to say AI will cause job losses over the next 20 years than to say it will produce new jobs. That is not a niche worry. It is the majority view.
The anxiety is especially strong in richer countries. Australia and South Korea both came in at 76 percent, while the US was close behind at 71 percent. Those are not small pluralities; they are heavy skepticism, and they come from places usually assumed to be better positioned to benefit from new technology.
Pew’s survey also looked at how people think about AI more broadly, including its effect on daily life and income inequality. But the job question towers over the rest. Whatever else AI promises, a lot of people still hear it as a machine built to replace them.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
This is the part the boosters always wave away: people are not confused, they are paying attention. If AI keeps arriving as a way to do the same work with fewer humans, then fear of job loss is not hysteria, it is pattern recognition with a pulse. The industry can stop acting surprised when the public notices the math.
Read more about this at: The Verge
