Stanford University’s annual report on the AI industry says expert opinion and public sentiment are increasingly diverging.
Apparently, while experts are confident about AI, the great unwashed have rising anxiety about jobs, medical care and the economy.
The report digs into where the bad vibes are coming from, pulling together public sentiment data from multiple sources. It cites a Pew Research report published on 12 March 2026, where only 10 per cent of Americans said they were more excited than concerned about AI in daily life, while 56 per cent of AI experts expected a positive impact on the US over the next 20 years.
The split gets ugly once you ask what AI does to people. Some 84 per cent of experts thought AI would be largely positive for medical care over the next 20 years, but only 44 per cent of the US public agreed.
Work is worse. Some 73 per cent of experts felt upbeat about AI’s impact on how people do their jobs, compared with 23 per cent of the public; 69 per cent of experts were positive about the economy, while only 21 per cent of the public felt similarly.
Pew data cited in the report show AI experts were less pessimistic about the job market, while nearly two-thirds of Americans (64 per cent) think AI will lead to fewer jobs over the next 20 years.
Trust in regulation is not exactly soaring either. The US posted the lowest trust in its government to regulate AI responsibly at 31 per cent, while Singapore ranked highest at 81 per cent, according to Ipsos data compiled in Stanford’s report.
One state-by-state source found 41 per cent of respondents thought federal AI regulation would not go far enough, while 27 per cent said it would go “too far.”
Globally, those saying AI products and services offer more benefits than drawbacks rose from 55 per cent in 2024 to 59 per cent in 2025, yet the share saying AI makes them “nervous” climbed from 50 per cent to 52 per cent, which is a lovely trend if you sell anxiety.
