Most US voters say Trump, Congress don’t take AI risks seriously, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
FILE PHOTO: An AI (Artificial Intelligence) sign is seen at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China July 6, 2023. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo
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WASHINGTON, Oct 7 : Most US voters think President Donald Trump’s administration and Congress are not taking the risks of AI seriously enough and want the government to write new regulations for the technology, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The six-day survey, which ended on Monday, showed that wide swaths of the electorate see AI as a major threat to American jobs, underscoring growing skepticism of the technology from voters across the political spectrum.
The fast-advancing technology has become a matter of keen national interest amid reports of AI agents running amok and hacking into corporate computer networks, and warnings from prominent researchers that it could one day pose an existential threat to humanity. Noisy, power-hungry data centers that power AI also increasingly pose a nuisance when they pop up near neighborhoods while jacking up utility bills.
Some 57 per cent of registered voters in the poll — including a third of self-identified Republicans — said the Trump administration has not taken AI risks seriously enough or at all. Some 54 per cent said the same about Congress.
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Artificial intelligence has become a significant campaign issue ahead of the November 3 midterm elections when control of Congress is up for grabs. Some 62 per cent of voters in the poll said the technology could get out of control and risk the future of humankind, roughly the same share of voters with that view in a Reuters/Ipsos poll from August of last year.
Trump has repeatedly voiced unhesitating support for AI and the construction of data centers, arguing they are vital to US competitiveness even as bipartisan criticism of the technology grows. He often says the US tech industry will fall behind its Chinese counterparts when asked why his government hasn’t set limits on the technology’s use and development, a point that AI safety advocates say is misguided.
“That’s an important concern but it’s not top of mind for most Americans, nor should it be,” said Daniel Kokotajlo, a former OpenAI staffer who quit in 2024 because he believed the company wasn’t behaving responsibly.
The more pressing concern is that AI could cost people their jobs or threaten human health and safety, he said.
In a statement to Reuters about the president’s handling of AI, a White House official pointed to Trump’s new task force, which he said is in charge of ensuring that “America continues to lead the world” on the technology.
“The Trump administration’s priority is to ensure there is a booming economy so that workers have many opportunities and experience limited volatility from any short-term disruptions,” the official said when asked about voters’ AI-related employment fears.
LITTLE FEDERAL ACTION
While high-profile leaders ranging from US Senator Bernie Sanders — a democratic socialist who caucuses with Democrats — to Steve Bannon — a hard right ally of President Donald Trump — have called for federal action, little has come so far.
Trump last week said executives from the six leading AI developers agreed to a set of voluntary safety principles, including working with “independent auditors” to assess whether AI systems are working as their designers intended.
The safety agreement with the companies — Nvidia, SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta and Alphabet’s Google — includes no stated consequences if a company chooses not to comply. Congress has so far failed to agree on legislation that would set guardrails on the technology, and lawmakers are expected to be away from Washington until after the midterms.
The new Reuters/Ipsos poll found 84 per cent of voters saw AI as a threat to American workers. By comparison, only 60 per cent saw illegal immigration as a threat to American workers, while 74 per cent viewed competition from foreign workers that way and 73 per cent said the same of large corporations.
A bipartisan majority of voters – including 80 per cent of Democrats and 61 per cent of Republicans – said they supported stricter government regulation on AI.
Many voters also oppose building the data centers that power AI, which has become a pressing issue in congressional and statewide races across the country as candidates from both parties urge a pause in the current construction boom.
Fifty-six percent of voters in the Reuters/Ipsos poll back limits on building data centers, including 69 per cent of Democrats, 55 per cent of independents and 43 per cent of Republicans.
The poll also found growing unease with the ways that AI could be used in warfare. Some 57 per cent of voters think the US government should not use AI to determine the target of a military strike, up from 49 per cent in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in August 2025.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll, which was conducted online and nationwide, gathered responses from 4,506 US adults, including 3,526 registered voters. The survey has a margin of error of 2 per centage points.
Source: Reuters
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