Growing concern over the impact of artificial intelligence on employment is being reported across the world, with more people expecting AI to reduce the number of available jobs than create new opportunities, according to a global survey by the Pew Research Center.
The study, based on interviews conducted between February and June 2026, surveyed more than 50,000 people across 37 countries. It examined attitudes toward AI, including expectations about its effect on employment, economic inequality and its growing role in everyday life.
Moira Fagan, a senior researcher at the Pew Research Center and one of the study’s authors, said public views of individual countries and confidence in their ability to regulate AI appear to be closely connected.
In Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, respondents were more likely to trust China than the United States or the European Union to regulate artificial intelligence.
Across the 11 middle-income countries included in the question, a median of 43% said they trusted China to regulate AI, compared with 35% for the United States and 34% for the European Union.
Fagan said favourable views of China were relatively strong in many middle-income countries and had increased in several places compared with the previous year. She said this may help explain the higher levels of confidence in China’s approach to AI regulation.
The survey also found that concerns about job losses were particularly widespread in wealthier countries. In Australia, South Korea and the United States, around seven in 10 adults or more expected AI to result in job losses over the next 20 years.
People in richer countries were also more likely to worry that AI could widen economic inequality. Fagan said this could partly reflect greater familiarity with the technology.
People who said they had heard or read a lot about AI were more likely to expect it to reduce employment opportunities, according to the research.
Age was another factor in public attitudes. In several countries, including Canada, France, Singapore, Sweden, Indonesia, India and Malaysia, adults aged 18 to 34 were more concerned about AI-related job losses than older respondents.
Views were less divided over the broader presence of AI in daily life. Across the 37 countries surveyed, a median of 37% said they were more concerned than excited about AI, while 41% said they felt equally concerned and excited.
The findings come as debate grows over the pace of AI development and its potential risks. AI company leaders, including Sam Altman, Elon Musk and Dario Amodei, have raised concerns about the risks associated with increasingly advanced systems.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has also called for greater caution over the development of frontier AI models and closer international cooperation on safety.
