Global Attitudes on AI 2026: The Wonder vs. Worry Divide Deepens
Excitement and nervousness about AI have reached near parity globally, and increasingly, it's the same people feeling both. That's the central finding of the 2026 Ipsos AI Monitor, now in its fifth year of tracking attitudes across 32 countries.
Opinions about AI are not changing as fast as the technology itself. People’s attitudes haven’t shifted much since a sudden movement with the earthquake that was the introduction of ChatGPT between the 2022 and 2023 waves of the Ipsos AI Monitor.
In many ways, AI is the story of these times. The fifth-annual study adds more nuance to the conversation. Because trends don’t happen in a vacuum. To look at advances and tensions around AI purely from a tech perspective and ignore all of the economic, geopolitical, social and environmental is to miss the pre-existing attitudes driving the new attitudes. What hasn’t changed? The tension Ipsos has long-framed between the Wonder of AI and the Worry persists. It’s now almost an even number of people saying AI makes them “excited” or “nervous”. In many cases, it’s the same people feeling both emotions.
Key findings:
- Whether you are positive or sceptical about AI depends on where you live. People in Asia and LATAM are on average more likely to think AI has more benefits than drawbacks and are excited about products and services using AI. While in Europe and North America people are on average more likely to feel nervous about AI.
- AI seen as having greater impact in the future than it has had already. One in two (54%) on average across 32 countries* say products and services using AI have already changed their lives in the past three to five years. However, 66% expect AI to have a greater impact on their daily lives in the coming three to five years.
- AI is seen as making work more efficient. Two-thirds of workers (62%) across 32 countries say AI has saved them time at work in the last 12 months. Those who are on a higher income are on average more likely to agree that AI saving them time (70%) than people living in middle- and low-income households (60% and 54% respectively). Younger generations – Gen Z (68%) and Millennials (65%) – are more likely than older ones – Gen X (57%) and Baby Boomers (46%) – to feel they have saved time.
- People see AI’s benefits as greater than its environmental cost. On average across 32 countries 49% think the potential benefits of AI outweigh the environmental costs, while 39% disagree with this. People in English-speaking countries and Western Europe are more likely to disagree with the statement that AI outweighs the environmental cost.
- Lack of trust in advertiser-influenced generative AI answers. Across 32 countries 46% say they would trust a generative AI tool less if its answers were influenced by advertisers on the platform. In 15 markets a majority in that country say they would trust the AI tool less.
