Young Americans turn wary as AI job fears grow

Young Americans are becoming markedly more uneasy about artificial intelligence as fears over job losses, shrinking entry-level opportunities and an uncertain career ladder increasingly outweigh enthusiasm for the technology.

A nationwide survey conducted in June found 55% of adults under 30 were more concerned than excited about the growing use of AI in daily life, a sharp change from 39% in 2024. Nearly three-quarters of younger adults now expect AI to result in fewer jobs in the United States over the next two decades, highlighting how rapidly attitudes have shifted among a generation once viewed as the technology’s most natural adopters.

The change does not mean younger Americans have abandoned AI. They remain active users of generative tools for education, research, writing, coding and workplace tasks. Instead, greater familiarity appears to be developing alongside deeper anxiety about what automation could mean for career prospects.

That tension is particularly visible among Generation Z. Separate polling this year found 56% believed AI could make work faster, down 10 percentage points from 2025, while the share saying it could accelerate learning fell seven points to 46%. Weekly use of AI remains widespread among younger people even as confidence in its broader benefits weakens.

Employment concerns are central to the shift. Seventy-one per cent of US adults now believe AI will produce fewer jobs over the next 20 years, up from 64% in 2024, while only 5% expect the technology to create more jobs. Among people under 30, 73% anticipate a reduction in employment opportunities.

Those fears are being reinforced by a more difficult labour market for younger workers, particularly new graduates seeking white-collar positions. Research examining employment in occupations with high exposure to generative AI has found disproportionately weaker outcomes among early-career workers, although economists continue to debate how much of that deterioration can be directly attributed to AI.

One influential analysis of payroll records found workers aged 22 to 25 in highly AI-exposed occupations experienced a sizeable relative decline in employment after generative AI tools became widely available. Other research, however, has found that weakness in some AI-exposed occupations began before ChatGPT’s public launch in November 2022, suggesting slower hiring, remote-work patterns and broader economic changes are also contributing factors.

New York Federal Reserve researchers have similarly cautioned against treating AI as the sole explanation for worsening employment prospects among young graduates. Youth unemployment was already rising before generative AI spread rapidly, and employment disadvantages for younger workers persist even after researchers control for occupational exposure to the technology.

Corporate adoption is nevertheless accelerating. About 18% of US firms had adopted AI by the end of 2025, and workplace surveys indicate that usage is expanding most quickly in technology, professional services and other knowledge-intensive occupations. Twenty-one per cent of workers said last year that AI performed at least some part of their jobs, compared with 16% roughly a year earlier.

Employers are also beginning to adjust staffing decisions. Some service companies using AI have reported reducing hiring because of the technology, while businesses planning greater adoption expect automation to limit future recruitment. That pattern matters particularly for young employees because entry-level positions traditionally provide the training, experience and professional networks required for progression into senior roles.

Yet evidence of large-scale AI-driven dismissals remains mixed. Only 1% of laid-off workers surveyed during the first quarter of 2026 identified AI as the primary reason for losing their jobs. At the same time, 18% of employees believe AI or automation could eliminate their position within five years, rising to 23% among workers at organisations already using AI.

Federal Reserve policymakers are watching the transition closely because rapid automation could simultaneously raise productivity and disrupt employment. Policymakers have warned that technological change may temporarily increase unemployment even if new occupations eventually emerge, creating challenges that interest-rate policy alone would be poorly equipped to address.

For younger workers, the response is increasingly centred on adaptation rather than outright rejection. AI literacy is becoming a workplace requirement, while skills difficult to automate — interpersonal judgement, leadership, specialised expertise and relationship-building — are attracting greater attention as employees seek protection against displacement.