Poll: As Americans form views on AI, they're divided on its role in school and everyday life

Americans are almost evenly split on several questions measuring their views on artificial intelligence, with no meaningful differences based on age and partisanship, according to the NBC News Decision Desk Poll powered by SurveyMonkey

Americans are almost evenly split on several questions measuring their views on artificial intelligence, with no meaningful differences based on age and partisanship, according to the NBC News Decision Desk Poll powered by SurveyMonkey.

The split views on AI use and AI’s impact on the future come as elected officials in Washington have largely left AI companies untouched, introducing few regulations that constrain them.

President Donald Trump has undone many of the initial attempts at regulation and oversight put in place by then-President Joe Biden, and many Republicans have embraced the Trump administration’s anti-regulation stance on AI. But in the background, college professors and teachers across the U.S. have expressed exasperation at the potential influence that increasing student use of AI could have on young minds, and many progressives have balked at AI’s potential influence on the job market and the environment, with many urging others to abandon the use of AI altogether.

Slightly less than half — 44% — of U.S. adults surveyed said that they used AI tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini or Microsoft Copilot “sometimes” or “very often,” while 56% said they used these tools “rarely” or “never.”

The poll, which also surveyed respondents about politics and the Trump administration, found no meaningful breakdowns in AI tool use by political party.