Story Highlights
- Positive emotions toward AI outweigh negative ones in 34 out of 37 countries
- Across 37 countries, the median percentage who have never used AI is 57%
- Western countries rank high in AI worry, but daily users worry least
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Positive feelings about artificial intelligence outweigh negative ones in 34 of the first 37 countries to complete fieldwork this year in Gallup’s ongoing research with Microsoft.
The study, which will ultimately cover 140 countries, measures public engagement with AI across five dimensions. In addition to emotional response, the survey captures awareness, frequency of use, expected impact and trust.
AI engagement can be viewed as an adoption ladder, moving from awareness to ever having used AI and then to more frequent use. Across the 37 countries surveyed, the percentage of adults at each step of the ladder generally declines as engagement deepens. Median AI awareness is 81%, but the median percentage who have ever used AI (whether for work or personal purposes) is 43%, and the percentage using it frequently is smaller still.
Adoption also varies widely by country. In Singapore, 96% of adults are aware of AI, 79% have ever used it, and 46% use it daily. At the other end of the spectrum, 12% of adults in Malawi are aware of AI, 3% have ever used it, and 1% use it daily. The contrast underscores how different the reality of AI adoption can look outside highly connected, technology-focused environments.
AI Optimism Outweighs Pessimism Across Most Countries
The survey asked adults who are aware of AI two questions about its expected future impact: whether they think AI will mostly help or harm people in their country, and whether they expect AI to make their own daily lives mostly better or worse.
In 25 of the 37 countries surveyed, majorities of AI-aware adults expect AI to improve their daily lives. In 32 countries, optimists outnumber pessimists. Views of AI’s impact on the country are somewhat less positive: Optimists outnumber pessimists in 29 countries, but they only constitute an absolute majority in 18. China stands out, with 93% saying AI will mostly help their country, followed by Vietnam at 91%, Singapore at 77%, Israel at 69% and Nigeria at 68%. Expectations are lowest in Bangladesh, where 34% expect AI to mostly help their country, followed by Egypt at 35% and the United States at 36%.
Notably, optimism about AI does not simply track current adoption. In Nigeria, for example, 68% of those who are aware of AI expect AI to mostly help their country, even though only 20% have ever used it. In Vietnam, 91% expect AI to help, compared with 43% who have ever used it. This suggests that positive expectations about AI can be widespread even where firsthand use remains limited.
Optimism About AI Is Higher Than Trust in Its Accuracy
The survey also asked AI-aware adults how much they trust AI to provide accurate information. Trust remains relatively limited. Across the 37 countries surveyed, the median percentage who trust AI completely or a lot is 36%. That level of trust is only expressed by a majority of adults in four of the 37 countries: Israel (67%), Vietnam (59%), China (58%) and Nigeria (52%).
At the same time, optimism about AI is more widespread than trust in its accuracy. In 35 of 37 countries, more people expect AI to help people in their country than trust it to provide accurate information. People may therefore see considerable potential in AI even while remaining uncertain about whether they can rely on the information it provides.
Trust rises sharply along the adoption ladder. People who use AI more frequently tend to express substantially greater trust in its accuracy than those who use it rarely or not at all. In many countries, the difference is large. For example, in the U.S., 45% of daily AI users trust it completely or a lot to provide accurate information, compared with 26% of weekly users, 15% of those who use it less than weekly and just 8% of those who have never used AI. Similar patterns appear across a wide range of countries.
The survey cannot establish whether greater trust leads people to use AI more often, whether experience with AI builds trust, or both. But the strength and consistency of the relationship suggest that trust and adoption are connected.
Positive Feelings Toward AI Outweigh Negative Ones in Most Countries
The survey also asked AI-aware adults whether AI makes them feel curious, happy, excited, worried, sad or angry. Overall, positive emotions outweigh negative ones in 34 of the 37 countries, except for the United States, Egypt and the State of Palestine. Across the 37 countries surveyed, the median percentage reporting at least one positive emotion toward AI is 72%, compared with 41% reporting at least one negative emotion.
Positive emotions are most widespread in China (90%), Singapore (89%) and Kenya (87%). Curiosity about AI is the clearest positive response and the most commonly reported emotion in 29 countries. Across the 37 countries surveyed, the median percentage who say AI makes them feel curious is 64%, compared with 39% who feel happy and 34% who feel excited.
Feeling worried is the most common negative emotion associated with AI in 35 of 37 countries. Across the 37 countries surveyed, the median percentage who say AI makes them feel worried is 32%, compared with 12% who feel sad and 12% who feel angry.
The Paradox of the Worried West: High AI Use, High AI Worry
Among the 37 countries surveyed, those living in wealthy Western countries rank among the most worried. The seven Western high-income countries surveyed occupy ranks 1 through 6 and 8 on worry. The United States stands out, with 74% of AI-aware adults saying AI makes them feel worried, followed by the Netherlands at 67%, Canada at 64%, the United Kingdom at 63%, New Zealand at 61%, Ireland at 60% and Malta at 57%.
These countries are notable because many are also among the heaviest users of AI in the study, with a median percentage of 29% using AI daily, compared with 17% across the other 30 countries. Yet within these same countries, daily AI users are less likely to report feeling worried than people who use AI less often or not at all. In the United States, for example, 68% of daily users are worried, compared with 80% of less frequent users and 74% of those who have never used AI. In Canada, worry rises from 54% among daily users to 72% among less frequent users and 69% among nonusers. Similar patterns appear in the United Kingdom, Ireland and New Zealand.
Bottom Line
AI is not yet everywhere, but opinions about it are widespread. Across the 37 countries surveyed, the median percentage of adults who have never used AI is 57%. Yet among those who are aware of it, positive emotions outweigh negative ones in 34 of 37 countries, led by curiosity. Wealthy Western countries stand apart, combining relatively high use with some of the highest levels of worry.
Frequent users are generally more trusting and less worried than those with less or no experience, although the survey cannot determine which comes first. As AI becomes more common, leaders will need to pay attention not only to who uses it, but also to whether people trust it and how it makes them feel.
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For complete methodology and specific survey dates, please review Gallup's Country Data Set details. Learn more about how the Gallup World Poll works.
