University of Kwazulu-Natal

Americans Worry About Ai In Politics But They Re More Worried About

Bonisiwe Shabane
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americans worry about ai in politics but they re more worried about

As artificial intelligence technologies make their way into political ads and campaigning, Americans are expressing growing concern. But they’re not just worried about deepfakes and deceptive content’s impact on elections — they also fear how the government might use the fight against misinformation to restrict free speech. In a recently released FIRE poll of registered American voters, conducted by Morning Consult, one concern stood out: government regulation itself. Nearly half of respondents (45%) said they are “extremely” or “very” concerned that government regulation of election-related AI content could be abused to suppress criticism of elected officials. That’s a powerful signal that while Americans see the risks posed by AI, they don’t trust government regulators to police political expression fairly. When asked to choose between protecting free speech in politics or stopping deceptive content, a plurality (47%) said protecting free speech in politics is more important, even if that means allowing some deceptive content.

Just 37% prioritized stopping deceptive content, even at the expense of limiting speech that would otherwise be protected by the First Amendment. These sentiments are held across the political spectrum, but are stronger among Independents and Republicans, than among Democrats. This isn’t just a preference — it’s a principled stand in favor of the core freedoms the First Amendment exists to protect. Political speech lies at the heart of those freedoms, and Americans clearly recognize that any government attempts to police what can or can’t be said pose a far greater threat to democracy than free... The chilling effects are already measurable. About 28% of voters said they’d be less likely to share content on social media if the government began regulating AI-generated or AI-altered content.

(That’s right: All content, not just AI-generated or AI-altered content.) That may not sound dramatic at first glance, but that’s more than the average voter turnout during the last midterm primaries. As our political culture is increasingly shaped online, discouraging speech — even unintentionally — can have real consequences for public discourse. AI Chatbots Are Shockingly Good at Political Persuasion Chatbots can measurably sway voters’ choices, new research shows. The findings raise urgent questions about AI’s role in future elections By Deni Ellis Béchard edited by Claire Cameron

Stickers sit on a table during in-person absentee voting on November 01, 2024 in Little Chute, Wisconsin. Election day is Tuesday November 5. Forget door knocks and phone banks—chatbots could be the future of persuasive political campaigns. Republicans and Democrats are now about equally likely to express concern over the increased use of artificial intelligence, but they differ widely in their trust in the United States to regulate the technology. Today, nearly identical shares of Republicans and Democrats say they are more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life – 50% and 51%, respectively, according to a Pew Research... adults conducted in June.

(In this analysis, Republicans and Democrats include independents who lean toward each party.) Republicans and Democrats similarly report feeling equally concerned and excited about the increased use of AI, while about one-in-ten in each group are more excited than concerned. This represents a notable shift from previous years. Since 2021, Republicans have been more likely than Democrats to say they feel more concerned than excited about AI’s growing use. But the share of Republicans who say this has decreased 9 percentage points since 2023. Meanwhile, Democrats’ concerns over AI have steadily grown.

The 51% of Democrats who are more concerned than excited about AI’s increased use in daily life is up from 46% in 2023 and 31% in 2021. Artificial intelligence is increasingly emerging as a key wedge issue — not between the major political parties, but within them. On the right, MAGA populists and influencers are warning about the potential hazards of unrestricted AI development as President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and their administration have pushed for minimal regulations in... On the left, progressives are fighting against potential AI-fueled job losses and a further consolidation of financial power by Big Tech as center-left Democrats weigh the unknown downsides of technological advancement with major investments... Potential 2028 presidential contenders — from Vance and Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley on the right, to California Gov.

Gavin Newsom and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the left — are all carving out unique lanes on the issue, creating some unusual bedfellows. Ocasio-Cortez is among the potential 2028 candidates who have highlighted growing concerns in recent weeks. Last month, she raised the potential for a market downturn fueled by what some are calling an AI bubble, warning at a congressional hearing of “2008-style threats to economic stability.” Americans have a lot of worries about artificial intelligence. Like job losses and energy use.

Even more so: political chaos. All of that is a lot to blame on one new technology that was an afterthought to most people just a few years ago. Generative AI, in the few years since ChatGPT burst onto the scene, has become so ubiquitous in our lives that people have strong opinions about what it means and what it can do. A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted Aug. 13-18 and released Tuesday dug into some of those specific concerns. It focused on the worries people had about the technology, and the general public has often had a negative perception.

In this survey, 47% of respondents said they believe AI is bad for humanity, compared with 31% who disagreed with that statement. Compare those results with a Pew Research Center survey, released in April, that found 35% of the public believed AI would have a negative impact on the US, versus 17% who believed it would... That sentiment flipped when Pew asked AI experts the same question. The experts were more optimistic: 56% said they expected a positive impact, and only 15% expected a negative one. Don't miss any of CNET's unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add us as a preferred Google source on Chrome.

The last decade taught us painful lessons about how social media can reshape democracy: misinformation spreads faster than truth, online communities harden into echo chambers, and political divisions deepen as polarization grows. Now, another wave of technology is transforming how voters learn about elections—only faster, at scale, and with far less visibility. Large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, among others, are becoming the new vessels (and sometimes, arbiters) of political information. Our research suggests their influence is already rippling through our democracy. LLMs are being adopted at a pace that makes social media uptake look slow. At the same time, traffic to traditional news and search sites has declined.

As the 2026 midterms near, more than half of Americans now have access to AI, which can be used to gather information about candidates, issues, and elections. Meanwhile, researchers and firms are exploring the use of AI to simulate polling results or to understand how to synthesize voter opinions. These models may appear neutral—politically unbiased, and merely summarizing facts from different sources found in their training data or on the internet. At the same time, they operate as black boxes, designed and trained in ways users can’t see. Researchers are actively trying to unravel the question of whose opinions LLMs reflect. Given their immense power, prevalence, and ability to “personalize” information, these models have the potential to shape what voters believe about candidates, issues, and elections as a whole.

And we don’t yet know the extent of that influence. Artificial intelligence has taken little time to shape how we live, work, and interact with institutions. From facial recognition in policing and algorithmic hiring tools to government chatbots and AI-generated content, the technology is being deeply woven into the fabric of public life. But as AI becomes more prevalent, a growing body of research reveals a nation that is equal parts intrigued and uneasy. New data from Pew Research Center, Gallup-Bentley University, and recent public sector surveys highlight a clear trend: Americans want AI that works for the public good, but they’re not convinced that’s what they’re getting. Despite the breathless optimism surrounding AI in business and innovation circles, public sentiment tells a different story.

According to Pew Research, only 18% of Americans say they’re more excited than concerned about AI in daily life. A much larger group (37%) expresses more concern than excitement, while 45% land somewhere in the middle. This hesitation stems from a variety of sources. Many Americans worry that AI could exacerbate inequality, threaten jobs, infringe on privacy, or make opaque decisions with serious consequences, often without meaningful human oversight. As one woman in her 70s put it, “It will eventually eliminate jobs. Then what will those people do to survive?”

Nowhere is public caution more evident than in the government sector. While agencies across the country are exploring AI for digital services, automation, and data analysis, many residents remain wary of the implications.

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