Young people have grown increasingly skeptical of artificial intelligence, even those who use it daily, according to a new Gallup poll of more than 1,500 people aged 14 to 29.

There is no decline in AI use among Gen Zers, but there is also no increase since the same poll was conducted in 2025. The latest poll found that AI use was plateauing among young users, accompanied by rising concern about the technology’s consequences.

The findings are significant because Gen Z is “the generation most likely to enter or grow within the workforce over the next decade,” the report notes, meaning that their adoption could determine the trajectory of broader societal AI adoption. Gen Z has already overtaken Boomers in the workforce. Right now, the AI world is preparing for a massive jump in expected demand, and the top tech and financial companies are investing billions upon billions of dollars into building out the supply. Experts have warned that if demand does not pan out exactly as expected in the short term, then it could have disastrous consequences for the economy.

“The data paint a picture of a generation that is neither wholly rejecting AI nor fully embracing it — including those
who use it every day,” the report says. “This signals a growing credibility challenge that access alone will not solve.”

Curiosity was still the most commonly felt emotion in response to AI among Gen Z, but it was closely followed by anxiety and anger. The lowest-ranked responses by a margin were excitement and hope. Excitement for AI dropped 14 percentage points since 2025, and hopefulness fell nine points, while anger increased by nine points and anxiety remained steady.

Anxiety seems to be overwhelmingly common regardless of usage. According to the poll, 4-in-10 Gen Zers are anxious about the consequences of wider AI adoption. Among those who don’t use AI, 60% reported anxiety and 2% reported being hopeful, while among those who use AI daily, 28% were still anxious and 38% were hopeful.

There is reason for this shifting sentiment. As AI use increased, so did reports of its adverse impact on things like mental health, war, government, job market, and the environment. The result has been a growing distaste for AI as a concept and more dissent against the unprecedented data center buildout meant to service it.

The impact has been especially rough for Gen Z. Cases of vulnerable teens allegedly being guided by AI chatbots to end their lives have gripped headlines in the past year, while studies have linked corporate AI initiatives to a hostile job market for young graduates. Artificial intelligence is relatively good at automating stuff that an early-career worker would be expected to fulfill at a company, which some experts believe has led to a decrease in hiring. The Irish government reported a link between slowing employment for young workers and AI adoption earlier this year, and last year, Fed Chair Jerome Powell admitted that AI is probably a factor in the dismal young graduate employment rates in the U.S.

The trend threatens not only the careers of young workers but the future of the workforce in general, as young workers have less access to crucial on-the-job training that they normally would have gone through in their 20s.

Working young adults in the survey were also significantly more likely to say that the risks of AI outweigh or equal the benefits. Thirty-eight percent said AI would do more harm than good for creativity, and 42% said the same for critical thinking. There is also decreasing confidence in the belief that AI helps complete work faster, down 10 points since last year. But 56% still believe it can speed up work. Gallup also found that Gen Z is losing faith in AI’s ability to help accelerate learning. That metric was down 7 points at 46%.

Significantly more respondents were likely to trust work that was completely helmed by humans rather than AI. Only 3% of respondents said they would trust completely AI-generated work, and 28% said they would trust work done with the help of some AI, while 69% said they would rather pick work that was 100% human-made.

The report concluded that to combat rising AI skepticism among younger users, tech companies will have to go beyond just highlighting it as a productivity booster with the potential to multiply work output. The big players in AI seem to have caught on to this trend, at least to some degree. At Nvidia’s GTC conference last month, CEO Jensen Huang spoke to the press at length about how much he is against the complete automation of work via AI and how executives freezing hiring to maximize profits were “out of imagination.” Meanwhile, earlier this week, OpenAI began calling for an AI-enabled four-day workweek.