One of many methods Pew Analysis has been gauging American attitudes about AI for the previous few years is by asking this query that measures individuals’s pleasure in opposition to their concern. They began asking this in 2021, within the pre-ChatGPT days, and within the latest survey six years later, People on the whole are much less excited than ever—and likewise tied for probably the most involved ever.
However one group is trending the wrong way from the remainder: individuals within the 50-64 age vary, a gaggle that principally—although not totally—overlaps with what we name Technology-X, which by my math is people who find themselves 46-61.
In response to Pew’s newest findings, the vast majority of People are extra involved than excited, at 52%. Pew’s 2021 survey that used the identical query discovered that 37% have been extra involved than excited. The standout discovering within the newest examine in line with Pew is that amongst adults below 30 years-old, 55% are extra involved than excited—the primary time the youngs have been so pessimistic on this survey, however other, related surveys of young people have produced related findings these days.
But it surely’s the 50- to 64-year-olds I discover probably the most attention-grabbing. They have been the one group a majority of whom didn’t give the “extra involved than excited” response—although to be clear, solely 8% gave the “extra excited than involved” reply, so let’s not act like this group needs to kiss a chatbot or one thing.
What’s extra, fewer and fewer respondents on this age group have been answering “extra involved than excited” in every of the previous 4 surveys. It was 59% in 2023 (the second highest among the many teams), 56% in 2024, and 52% in 2025.
Oddly, amongst 50- to 64-year-old respondents, Pew notes that 69% believed there can be “fewer jobs” over the following 20 years in 2024, and that proportion is definitely up in 2026. It’s now 72%.
It’s price retaining in thoughts that according to Pew’s methodology this isn’t a single group of individuals being requested the identical questions time and again. There are new recruits annually. Even when it have been the identical individuals, Pew is labeling them by age on the time they’re being surveyed, so the identical particular person might theoretically have been in final yr’s group of 30- to 49-year-olds, and this yr’s group of 50- to 64-year-olds.
And though the development on this group’s solutions over time is somewhat out of step with the remainder of the age teams, their solutions aren’t massively totally different from the remainder when taken as a complete. Nonetheless, it’s a puzzling quirk price exploring.
