Young people were promised AI would make them sharper, richer and more employable, but many now feel mugged by the future.
According to the Financial Times, about half of American Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012, use generative AI at least once a week. A Gallup poll found 31 per cent said it made them angry, up from 22 per cent last year.
The findings match interviews across three continents, where young people described a messy blend of dependence, annoyance and fear.
For graduates, AI has turned job hunting into a daft arms race. Applicants use chatbots to spray out applications, while employers use algorithms to bin them at scale.
Stanford University researchers found that on one gamified assessment platform, jobseekers needed to apply for at least 25 roles to be almost certain of one next-stage recommendation. Some graduates said they had applied for hundreds of jobs without getting an offer.
Outside work and study, AI is making reality feel optional. Lucy said AI-generated images now give politicians plausible deniability when compromising footage appears.
In the US, graduates have heckled commencement speakers praising AI. Former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt was booed at the University of Arizona after talking up the technology’s reach.
The grumbling has fed groups such as the Luddite Club, founded in 2021 in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. Members meet to read, paint, talk and listen to music while ditching smartphones for flip phones.
The club has spread across the US and says it has chapters at universities and high schools from California to New Jersey. It claims branches in Australia and Sweden, with members staging rallies against AI and big tech outfits.
Despite the misgivings, many young people still use AI and see its uses. Gallup found only one in five Gen Z respondents had never used AI, roughly the same share as in 2025.
UK House of Lords crossbench peer Baroness Beeban Kidron. “Young people feel rubbed out. They’re being asked to embrace technology while being told there are no jobs, that the machines are taking over, and five people in the world will rule the roost. They’re going, where do I go, what do I do, who am I?”
