America Leads the World in AI Skepticism (benjamingrayzel.substack.com)

Despite leading the world in frontier AI capability, the United States is the most skeptical major population about AI adoption. Multiple surveys (Ipsos, Pew) show Americans are more worried than excited — only 17% expect AI’s impact to be positive over 20 years and just 6% think it will make people happier — even as adoption (e.g., ChatGPT’s ~700M weekly users) soars. The U.S. sits opposite China on global opinion maps: advanced capability but high public distrust. This matters because public sentiment shapes regulation, talent flows, and adoption patterns that will determine who benefits from AI economically and socially. A KPMG–University of Melbourne structural equation model isolates four drivers of trust in AI — risk concerns, AI literacy, perceived personal benefit, and institutional confidence — and finds institutional metrics (belief in effective safeguards and trustworthy institutions) are the strongest predictors. The U.S. ranks poorly on perceived AI literacy (34/47) and scores near the bottom for trust in government to regulate AI responsibly (≈27 points below global average), explaining much of its skepticism. Policy moves are fragmented: the White House prioritizes competitiveness, states enact varied laws, and Europe’s AI Act may set cross-border standards. Implication: without demonstrable, credible safeguards and clear public-benefit use cases (healthcare scores highest in U.S. support), American skepticism risks slowing domestic uptake and fueling regulatory patchworks that shape global AI development.