Majority of Americans Say AI Having Positive Effect on Daily Lives but Optimism Drops for Years Ahead

Just Capital launches new monthly National AI Monitor; August edition finds Americans are most positive about the effects of AI at work, most negative about effects on the environment

New York, NY, Sept. 16, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AI innovators have made both bold promises and grave predictions about the ways AI will impact society, while companies continue to deploy the technology at scale and with increasing speed. Current research primarily measures public sentiment about AI in the abstract, which lacks actionable nuance for leaders aiming to understand real-time impacts of AI deployment on society at large.

Just Capital created the new National AI Monitor to consistently track whether and how people are seeing positive or negative effects of AI in their own lives. This monthly study aims to capture how Americans are experiencing AI today – as workers, customers, community members, investors, and stewards of the environment – and their expectations for the future. The study collects both quantitative and qualitative responses to surface the realities behind experience across demographics. 

“AI is the most consequential issue of our time,” said Just Capital Founder Paul Tudor Jones II. “Understanding how the American people are experiencing it is critical to building public trust and making more informed decisions on future deployment. This new Monitor from Just Capital is filling that essential need. Leaders across the AI labs, business, markets, government, and civil society can rely on it every month to give an unbiased, objective assessment of whether AI is living up to its promises or taking us down the wrong path.”

Just Capital CEO Martin Whittaker continued, “As always, our goal is to uplift the voice of the American public to help leaders make smarter, more responsible decisions. As frontier labs, corporate leaders, and policymakers work to bridge public trust and technological transformation, this research aims to help them deploy AI in ways that drive innovation and support an economy and society that works for all.”

“In this first edition, we see a general public that is generally positive about the many ways AI can make their lives more fulfilling and more productive,” Whittaker added. “At the same time, there is real concern around ensuring AI systems are safe and secure, protecting jobs in their communities, and, most notably, mitigating harm to the environment. Importantly, most Americans are not aware of any effects of AI on their investments or savings. This all appears to add up to greater skepticism around the impacts of AI on the future. For leaders trying to help Americans see themselves in the future AI-powered economy, this is your roadmap.” 

The August 2026 edition found: 

Overall, positive experience outweighs negative.

• 56% of Americans say AI is having a positive effect on them right now. 21% say the effect is negative. This produces a net score of +35. 5% are still unsure.
• The leading driver of positive effect was that AI is helpful for searching, researching, and saving time. 
• The leading driver of negative effect was that AI can be inaccurate or untrustworthy. 

The greatest positive effect was found in how AI is affecting people at work. 

• 57% of Americans say AI positively impacts them at work, compared to just 9% who say it affects them negatively. This produces a net score of +48. 
• Positive qualitative responses most commonly cite productivity and quality gains (27%), efficiency and time savings (19%), and automating routine tasks (8%). 
• Americans think AI is coming for someone else's job, not their own: 4.3% of Americans raise job loss when asked about AI at work, but 15.4% raise job loss when asked about AI in their communities. 

Customer experience is mixed, and the human touch is a top priority.

• 40% of Americans say AI positively impacts them as a customer, compared to 19% who say it affects them negatively. This produces a net score of +21. 
• 24% report no effect. 
• Among those who report a negative impact, 37% state that they prefer human contact and distrust AI to be accurate in customer-facing settings. 

Many respondents are not sure how AI is impacting their communities to date. 

• 28% of Americans say AI is positively affecting their communities, compared to 21% who say it is negatively affecting their community, producing a net score of +7. 
• 33% say they’re not sure, the highest of any of the stakeholder groups in this report. 
• The greatest area of concern among negative respondents is job loss and replacement (48%). However, 16% of positive respondents say AI is creating jobs in their communities. 

The majority of Americans are not aware of whether they are experiencing financial gains from AI.

• 31% of Americans say AI has positively affected them as an investor, compared to 10% who say AI impacted them negatively, producing a net score of +21. 
• 42% say it has had no effect on them as an investor. 
• Only 9% of positive respondents say that they have experienced gains of AI stocks and profits rising. 26% of positive respondents say they use AI to make better investment decisions, and 25% say it helps with research and analysis. 
• 19% of negative respondents say they are not exposed to AI-related investments. 

The environment was the only lens producing a net negative effect. 

• 23% of Americans say AI is positively impacting the environment, compared to 40% who say it is producing a negative impact. This results in a net score of -17. 
• In qualitative responses, 40% of negative respondents name water use, 28% name electricity and energy consumption, and 7% name air pollution and emissions. 

Americans are more pessimistic about AI as they think of their future.

• 45% of Americans expect AI will have a positive effect on them in the next few years, compared to 30% who say it will have a negative effect. This results in a net score of +15, 20 points below the current net score of +35. 
• Men are far more likely than women to expect AI will have a positive effect on them. 
• Adults aged 18–24 are the only age band where more people expect AI to harm them than help them
• Republicans are the most optimistic, but this is not a left-right split: independents are the least optimistic and Democrats sit between the two.
• Optimism climbs steadily with household income, from the lowest band through to the highest without reversing. 

Methodology

The survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Just Capital from August 13-17, 2026 among 1,008 U.S. adults ages 18 and older. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within +/- 3.5 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. This credible interval will be wider among subsets of the surveyed population of interest. 

Respondents were asked seven questions: one on AI's overall effect on the respondent to date, one for each of the five stakeholder groups in Just Capital's framework (workers, customers, communities, the environment, and shareholders), and one forward-looking question on how optimistic respondents are about where AI is headed and how it may affect them. All questions use a five-point scale ranging from "very negative" to "very positive," with "I don't know" offered as an additional, non-forced option so that uncertainty is not recorded as a neutral rating. Every question except the final one is followed by an open-ended "why," which is synthesized to identify what drives responses and to serve as a diagnostic on how effectively companies are deploying AI. Scores are calculated as the percentage of positive responses ("somewhat positive" and "very positive") minus the percentage of negative responses ("somewhat negative" and "very negative"), producing a range from -100 to +100. "I don't know" responses are excluded from the calculation rather than counted as neutral.

For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact Just Capital. 

About Just Capital

Just Capital is the foremost independent organization advancing responsible business leadership. We translate insights from public polling, performance data, and financial analysis into actionable intelligence leaders can use to drive long-term business success and shared prosperity for people across America. Our flagship product Just Intelligence is designed to offer a comprehensive view of public expectations, stakeholder performance, and sector realities in order to drive responsible decision-making. When companies make better decisions, they can create lasting value for shareholders, contribute to stronger communities, and help drive broader economic and societal progress. For more information, visit justcapital.com.

Evangeline DiMichele
Just Capital
edimichele@justcapital.com