Is AI Good or Bad for Society? What 25 Countries Actually Think
Around the world most people feel both concerned and excited about AI, and views differ sharply by country. Here is what Pew (25 countries, 2025) and Ipsos (32 countries, 2026) found, and why their numbers differ.
Quick answer
- Most people around the world feel both. In Pew Research Center’s survey of 25 countries (fieldwork January–April 2025; the US was surveyed separately in 2025), a median of 42% said they were equally concerned and excited about AI in daily life, 34% were more concerned than excited and 16% were more excited than concerned.
- Nowhere is “mainly excited” the biggest group. Pew found no country where more than 30% were mainly excited. About half of adults in the US, Italy, Australia, Brazil and Greece were more concerned than excited.
- Where you live matters a lot. Ipsos’s 2026 AI Monitor (32 countries, online, 20 March–3 April 2026) found 85% in China and 80% in India agree AI products have more benefits than drawbacks, against 34% in Canada and 37% in Germany. The 32-country average was 55%.
- Opinions are not evidence of outcomes. These surveys measure what people feel and expect. They do not show whether AI will turn out well or badly, and they are a snapshot that moves from year to year.
What the evidence shows
Pew Research Center: 25 countries, 2025
Pew’s report, How People Around the World View AI (published 15 October 2025), surveyed 28,333 adults outside the US between 8 January and 26 April 2025, by telephone in 13 countries, face to face in 10 and through a probability-based online panel in Australia. The US figures come from two separate Pew panel surveys of US adults (3,605 adults on 24–30 March 2025 for trust questions and 5,023 adults on 9–15 June 2025 for awareness and reactions). Pew says these two US samples cannot be compared directly, so the US is left out of some analyses.
Results, reported as medians across countries:
- 42% are equally concerned and excited, 34% are more concerned than excited and 16% are more excited than concerned.
- In 15 of the 25 countries the largest group is “equally concerned and excited” (see Pew’s concern and excitement chapter).
- Concern is highest, at about half of adults, in the US, Italy, Australia, Brazil and Greece. It is lowest in South Korea, where 16% are mainly concerned.
- Awareness differs: a median of 34% have heard “a lot” about AI, 47% a little and 14% nothing. Roughly half of adults in Japan, Germany, France and the US have heard a lot, against 14% in India and 12% in Kenya.
Pew also found patterns inside countries. Older adults were more concerned than excited, compared with younger adults, in 18 of the 25 countries, and people with less education generally showed more concern and less awareness. Women were more likely than men to be mainly concerned in many countries.
Limits: medians hide large differences between countries, the question asks about feelings rather than facts, and phone, face-to-face and online surveys can produce somewhat different answers.
Ipsos AI Monitor: 32 countries, 2026
The Ipsos AI Monitor 2026 (see also Ipsos’s summary page) is a more recent survey. Ipsos interviewed 23,532 adults in 32 countries on its Global Advisor online platform between 20 March and 3 April 2026. Samples are roughly 1,000 per country in 15 countries and roughly 500 in the others. Ipsos says its online samples in several markets (including Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa) are more urban, more educated or more affluent than the general population, so they reflect the more “connected” part of those populations.
Respondents were asked how far they agree with statements about “products and services using artificial intelligence”. Ipsos reports the 32-country average (not weighted by population):
| Statement | Agree (32-country average) | Highest | Lowest |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI products and services have more benefits than drawbacks | 55% (33% disagree) | China 85%, India 80% | Canada 34%, Germany 37% |
| AI products and services make me excited | 51% (42% disagree) | China 83%, India 79% | Canada 26%, Great Britain 29% |
| AI products and services make me nervous | 50% (43% disagree) | Canada 67%, Australia 67% | (see report) |
Ipsos also reports that, compared with its 2025 wave, fewer people agreed that AI brings more benefits than drawbacks in 17 of the 28 countries surveyed both years, and that excitement fell in many countries (for example by 8 percentage points in Germany and in Great Britain). Under-35s were both the most nervous (52% on average) and the most excited (56%).
Limits: online panels, a different country list from Pew, and a country average that gives a small country the same weight as a large one.
Why the numbers differ
Pew’s median of 16% “mainly excited” and Ipsos’s 51% “excited” can look contradictory, but they are different questions. Pew makes people choose between being more concerned, more excited or both equally. Ipsos asks about excitement and nervousness separately, so someone can agree with both, and Ipsos itself notes that in many cases the same people feel both emotions. The surveys also differ in mode (phone and face to face versus online), in the countries covered (25 versus 32), in the year (spring 2025 versus spring 2026) and in the way a country “average” is calculated. Neither is wrong; read each as an answer to its own question, and do not compare single numbers across them.
What it means for you
- Small-business owners: your customers and staff are probably mixed too, with many both curious and wary. Being open about where you use AI and where you do not is a low-cost way to deal with that. Our articles cover specific tools and costs.
- Workers and parents: expect people around you to hold views that depend on age, country and experience. Pew’s data show familiarity with AI goes with more excitement, but this is a correlation and does not show that using AI changes minds.
- Anyone reading headlines: a headline saying “most people fear AI” or “most people love AI” is usually based on one question in one set of countries. Check the wording, the date and the countries.
For background on how long AI has been developing, see When was AI invented?
What we don’t know yet
- How much attitudes will change as people use AI more at work and home. Ipsos’s own data show a small fall in positivity between 2025 and 2026 in many countries, but two points in time are not a trend.
- How well the online samples in lower-income markets represent the whole population.
- Whether stated attitudes predict behaviour, such as who actually adopts or avoids AI tools.
- Whether the two surveys’ results would line up more closely if both used identical wording.
Common questions
Which country is most positive about AI?
In Ipsos’s 2026 survey, China and India had the highest shares agreeing AI has more benefits than drawbacks (85% and 80%). Pew’s 2025 survey did not include China, and it found no country where more than 30% were mainly excited.
Which countries are most worried?
Pew found about half of adults in the US, Italy, Australia, Brazil and Greece more concerned than excited. In Ipsos’s survey, Canada and Australia had the highest share (67% each) saying AI makes them nervous.
Do younger people like AI more?
Not simply. Pew found older adults more concerned than excited in 18 of 25 countries, but Ipsos found under-35s are both the most excited (56%) and the most nervous (52%) on average.
Do people trust their government to regulate AI?
It varies widely. In Pew’s survey, trust in one’s own country to regulate AI ranged from 89% in India to 22% in Greece; across countries the median trust in the EU was 53%, in the US 37% and in China 27%. In the US, Pew’s separate March 2025 survey found 44% trusted and 47% distrusted.
Sources
- Pew Research Center, How People Around the World View AI, 15 October 2025. Fieldwork 8 January–26 April 2025 (25 countries; 28,333 adults outside the US); US 24–30 March 2025 and 9–15 June 2025. Read 22 October 2026.
- Pew Research Center, Concern and excitement about AI, 15 October 2025. Read 22 October 2026.
- Ipsos, The Ipsos AI Monitor 2026, 32 countries, 23,532 adults, fieldwork 20 March–3 April 2026. Read 22 October 2026.
- Ipsos, Global Attitudes on AI 2026: The Wonder vs. Worry Divide Deepens, June 2026. Read 22 October 2026.