As artificial intelligence and generative AI continue to dominate the focus of tech companies, American consumer sentiment about AI is mostly split, according to a new survey by Seattle venture capital firm Maveron.
Maveron, in partnership with market research firm A/B Consulting, interviewed 3,000 Americans for its Consumer Insights Overview on such topics as uncertainty around AI, loneliness, and fear of security.
Here are some of the key insights:
- 37% of consumers are excited by AI and 40% are fearful of AI.
- 39% believe AI will make humans obsolete while 41% do not believe that sentiment.
- While 20% of consumers are likely to trust recommendations from AI, the breakdown is 36% for those with household income above $250,000 and 16% with income less than $50,000.
- Trust in AI is 36% for millennials and 10% for baby boomers.
- Only 20% of consumers have used AI in the past week or month; 31% have used it in the past year.
- 39% of full time students used generative AI in the past month, 77% higher than the general population.
- 14% of those in rural areas used generative AI in the past month, 36% lower than the general population.
Maveron’s survey also included insights about the millennial generation’s early adoption of technology, including:
- 37% of millennials have used generative AI in the past month, 68% higher than the average American and 19% higher than Gen Z.
- 30% of millennials have used cryptocurrency in the past month, 76% higher than the average American.
- 25% of millennials have used an electric car in the past month, 108% higher than the average American.
- 42% of millennials have used personalized health apps in the past month, 50% higher than the average American.
The split on AI among Americans is in line with other polls, as Axios reported in a roundup Tuesday of more than a dozen recent surveys. The news site’s review found significant differences in attitudes toward and use of AI along income, age and racial and ethnic lines.
The Maveron / A/B Consulting survey also dove into other consumer insights around technology, especially as it relates to creating feelings of loneliness as human-to-human interaction is replaced by online relationships.
- 30% of Americans agree, “I feel lonelier now, more than ever before.”
- 37% indicate that, “At least once a week there will be a day I don’t interact with a person.”
- Those who identify as “very liberal” are 37% more lonely than the average American.
- A member of Gen Z (38%) is twice as likely to be lonely than the average boomer.
- 44% of Gen Z say they currently have depression or anxiety, which is 57% higher than the overall population.
