INSIGHTS TO ACTIVATE
BRIDGING THE AI DIVIDE
Americans are more skeptical of artificial intelligence than the rest of the world. Here’s why – and how to fix it
Key Takeaways
1
Americans are far more worried about AI and less excited than people in other parts of the world
2
Keeping humans in the loop is crucial for building trust: For some of the best business uses for AI, people trust humans using AI as much as humans alone
3
There’s an appetite among non-users to learn how to use AI: Half are interested in learning how to use AI to support their career
Since the modern era of artificial intelligence began in 2022, advancements have come at a breakneck pace. But in the U.S., that hasn’t translated to more users – or less skepticism.
Two in three Americans say AI tools make them nervous, more than nearly all of the 30 other countries surveyed in the Ipsos AI Monitor. But beyond that, the number of people using AI tools has stagnated in the U.S., with barely more Americans using them in 2025 than 2024 – despite AI tools becoming more available across devices, prevalent in digital experiences, and reliable in terms of output.
The number of Americans who use generative AI tools sometimes or often, up only 3 points from 2024
Source: The Ipsos Consumer Tracker, fielded March 25-26, 2025, among 1,085 U.S. adults
This illustrates a concerning enthusiasm gap as tech companies make massive investments in developing AI capabilities, and businesses plan for AI tools to increase productivity and efficiency in the near term.
So what should AI advocates do to bridge the AI divide?
The answer: Get more humans involved.
So what should AI advocates do to bridge the AI divide?
The answer: Get more humans involved.
There are two key barriers to overcome to increase trust in AI: Get people to trust AI tools enough to use them themselves, and get people to trust the output of AI tools.
In Ipsos’ commitment to understanding how people feel about artificial intelligence, we asked Americans about a number of AI use cases to see if there were any areas in which they trusted AI alone more than humans – and there weren’t.
This shows that, in spite of all the AI news and buzz, there is still a lot of convincing to do. But there’s a crucial wrinkle: Keeping humans in the loop with AI builds trust where AI alone can alienate people.
In some of the key areas where AI is most useful for businesses today, people trust humans using AI almost as much as humans alone, and full-time employed Americans (those most likely to be using AI) trusted it even more.
For creating new products, full-time employed Americans trust humans using AI almost as much as humans alone
For creating new products, full-time employed Americans trust humans using AI almost as much as humans alone
Beyond that, Ipsos research shows that once people start using AI, an increasing comfort level leads to an increase in the number of tasks they use AI for. That has promising implications for companies developing AI services, as well as companies trying to modernize their operations using AI.
To get over the trust hump, though, AI advocates need to understand what makes people persistently nervous about AI in the first place. Read on to learn more.
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