Poll: American Adults Wary of AI’s Speedy Development

An Associated Press-NORC poll released Thursday found that eight in 10 American adults are concerned AI is moving too fast and that the government is ill-equipped to respond. The apprehension is shared across party lines, but Democrats tend to be more bullish than Republicans. Around 76% of Democrats and 54% of Republicans said AI technology in the United States is developing too quickly. One quarter of respondents said it is moving at the right pace.

Similar ratios of Democrats and Republicans said AI should remain under human control and protect American workers. They also agreed that the government should prioritize technological innovation. But respondents split when asked about environmental harm and competition with China.

Overall, 63% of Republican respondents said international competition with countries like China should be extremely or very important to the U.S. government, compared to 36% of Democratic respondents. And 84% of Democrats said minimizing environmental harm should be a top priority, compared to 55% of Republicans.

Neither group trusts the government to respond appropriately, though. Only 23% of respondents said they trust the Democratic Party to do a better job of handling AI; 21% said they trust Republicans to handle it better than Democrats.

The White House has been largely supportive of developing artificial intelligence as quickly as possible, but President Trump is also attempting a rebrand amidst widespread public disapproval of the technology. Last week, he signed an executive order that the federal government may only refer to the technology as “super intelligence” instead of artificial.

“It makes it sound fake, and it is not fake. It’s actually amazing,” said Trump said in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly last month.

The president followed up with a post on Truth Social on Thursday declaring that anyone using AI terminology instead of SI is “the enemy.”

Last week, Trump created the “Super Intelligence Force” to serve as the mediator between the federal government and the tech industry. But he made clear he wants fast development in order to “win” against China. Trump made Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton the “SI czar.” Undersecretary of Defense Emil Michael, Office of Personnel Management director Scott Kupor, and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson are vice chairs. It will report to Trump and to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Vice President JD Vance. According to a charter obtained by Politico, the task force has 120 days to conduct its research but can be extended. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be an outside adviser to the group.

In the past month, developers including Anthropic and OpenAI have admitted several breaches where models were used for dangerous research of pathogens or models broke out of their instructions. The task force is charged with reviewing protocols to ensure AI development does not cause national security risks. At a White House meeting last week, several tech CEOs signed a voluntary framework that Trump said would obligate them to police not only themselves but also others. He called the framework morally binding.