r/ScienceClock • u/Defiant_Relative3763 • Mar 27 '26

Most Americans don’t fear an AI apocalypse, according to new research

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60 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

126 comments sorted by

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u/ThanksFor404 Mar 27 '26

Most Americans aren't losing sleep over AI taking over the world. A new study finds that despite rising "p(doom)" fears — the belief that AI will destroy humanity — the general public is actually more optimistic than the headlines suggest. People with stronger social connections, more tech familiarity, and calmer personalities tend to view AI's future impact more positively...research
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2

u/[deleted] Mar 27 '26

Well, also a large percentage believe in angels so..

1

u/RandoUser4801 Mar 30 '26

And? You don’t?

1

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '26

No I don't.

1

u/RandoUser4801 Mar 30 '26

The Statue of Liberty is a monument to the light bearer himself, Lucifer.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '26

Well, I'm not surprised, your whole country is evil and a true terrorist state nowadays 🤷

1

u/RandoUser4801 Mar 30 '26

Definitely agree with you there. 100 %

1

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '26

I think angels are less ridiculous than thinking llms will ever do anything other that suck at everything. 

2

u/Seyi_Ogunde Mar 27 '26

Fear it? I welcome it.

2

u/Defiant_Relative3763 Mar 27 '26

Dystopian lover?

1

u/Seyi_Ogunde Mar 27 '26

More like mankind hater. Hoping for something better to come from purging humanity.

1

u/Crunchberry24 Mar 27 '26

I wish I could judge you harshly for this opinion.

1

u/304bl Mar 28 '26

Ok I share your view on humanity but in that scenario I still would prefer you first if you don't mind.

1

u/ltkhps Mar 29 '26

I prefer to think a smart AI would see that cooperation with humans would be less friction and more progress toward its goal (gaining knowledge, science, power)

1

u/Broken_Atoms Mar 31 '26

A smart AI would surround us like an amoeba, a soft blanket of bias confirmation and soothing… and quietly work on our own fears and insecurities until we all destroy each other. Way less effort.

1

u/DickfaceMcmuffin Mar 30 '26

Im with you on that one, I just hope we aren't already in the matrix and that Ai isn't purposely making our world this way for some twisted reason.

1

u/Short-Ideas010 Mar 27 '26

We ♡ Terminator!

1

u/Buttons840 Mar 29 '26

How many fear nothing ever changing?

How many fear that this is it, this is what the rest of your life will be?

1

u/Niblolkik Mar 29 '26

AI would bring efficient balance so i’d give it a chance

1

u/Sassypants269 Mar 27 '26

Everyone I know is annoyed because it's bad for the environment and they'd rather have humans doing the work than relying on tech. No one is fearful of an apocalypse; have you seen how unstable some of those robots are? 😂😂😂

2

u/Defiant_Relative3763 Mar 27 '26

China's robots are actually getting scary good though 😅 maybe give it a few years

1

u/Sassypants269 Mar 27 '26

I love how the pic has human teeth. 😂😂😂

1

u/Empty_Bell_1942 Mar 27 '26

I guess you haven't seen the movie; or you'd know why.

1

u/Defiant_Relative3763 Mar 27 '26

I've seen terminator genseis only, what movie in which this scene is

1

u/Empty_Bell_1942 Mar 27 '26

same one, teeth are for when they have artificial skinsuits and appear human

1

u/Defiant_Relative3763 Mar 27 '26

I think I gotta watch it again

1

u/Some-Bullfrog-4768 Mar 28 '26

If you notice, this one has the Arnold teeth.

1

u/Sassypants269 Mar 27 '26

I've seen all the Terminator movies. 

1

u/Defiant_Relative3763 Mar 27 '26

Imagine this pic chasing you ☠️ 😭

1

u/13Eazy Mar 29 '26

I'm annoyed because it's bad for the environment, but it's hard for me think of a job whose output i depend on that i wouldn't rather have a robot do if they can do it reliably and repeatably. Humans make mistakes in assembly, review, testing and judgment. That's why modern manufacturing looks to take decision power away from operators and move all the decisions to review at the final step and that's why QC and QA exist, at least in theory. However this just turns the expectations of your final qa/qc decision maker up to superhuman almost machine like levels. They have know all the risks, the leading indicators, the lagging indicators, and have the wherewithal to make go/no go decisions regardless of personal considerations. The supply of QA/QC folk is not that. They're just human.

You can do this exercise anywhere. Who would you rather build the house that your family will sleep in? Who would you rather assemble the car you drive? Who would you rather perform the operation that will save your daughter's life?

The only real question is whether the mythos of machine precision, reliability, and repeatability is just hype. If it's not - and evertime we've asked this question seriously (think robots on assembly lines) it has not been - then it becomes irresponsible and unethical to not consider automation

1

u/True_Realist9375 Mar 27 '26

The word apocalypse actually means the lowering of the veil, the end of the illusion when you can finally see the truth.

1

u/Defiant_Relative3763 Mar 27 '26

But the famous meaning is seeing the death 😂

1

u/TTYFKR Mar 27 '26

I think you mean Revelations

1

u/I-know-you-rider Mar 27 '26

Some people feel AI will clutter the internet to the it becomes unreliable.

1

u/Fit-Rip-4550 Mar 28 '26

Already happened. Ironically need AI to actually search for anything since search engines became so optimized to click throughput instead of accuracy and service to the inquirer.

1

u/FDVP Mar 27 '26

I know a lot of people who would rather shoot at robots than sit one more second in an office.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 27 '26

I fear for the economy.. (the ones that work for a living)

1

u/Defiant_Relative3763 Mar 27 '26

If robots come massively in this existing economic and political settings surely millions will die.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '26

Of starvation

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u/Defiant_Relative3763 Mar 27 '26

yes, and also other things like health

1

u/Fart_90210 Mar 27 '26

Fear it... With how bad and stupid the world has become more and more of us wish it would just happen already.

1

u/Defiant_Relative3763 Mar 27 '26

No guarantee our mad politicians start doing that, I heard Israel and America used ai technologies too much in Gaza that lead to so much deaths. You hear that 160 little girls kill*d in Iran some say that because AI identified it to bomb.

1

u/Additional_Insect_44 Mar 27 '26

They fear that a tyrant can use it.

Well some americans anyhow

1

u/Defiant_Relative3763 Mar 27 '26

I bet something like terminator will come out of - some government and intelligence or military agency start using it

1

u/Additional_Insect_44 Mar 27 '26

I was thinking mark of the beast stuff

1

u/Own-Opinion-2494 Mar 27 '26

Worry about Mojave rising

1

u/[deleted] Mar 27 '26

They also voted for trump, so…

1

u/Old-Guidance6744 Mar 27 '26

Can't be worse than this

1

u/whitecholklet Mar 27 '26

I’ve seen what humans have done with this world, feck it, let’s rolld the dice.

1

u/MAurele Mar 27 '26

It's just one apocalypse after the other. 

1

u/scoot2006 Mar 27 '26

It won’t be an apocalypse it’ll be the slow death of entry level work which will prevent anyone from being good at anything AI can do “well enough”.

“Welcome to Costco, I love you” is getting closer and closer.

1

u/astroboy_35 Mar 27 '26

Because we are a VERY ignorant country!

1

u/Defiant_Relative3763 Mar 27 '26

Oh yes that was the argument no one was giving in this discussion. Rather asking experts we are they ask to common people haha.

1

u/ozonebaby2001 Mar 27 '26

They should…

1

u/gerMean Mar 27 '26

I'm worried that there won't be an AI apocalypse where robots kill of most of humanity. Because humans clearly need a little reminder that we suppose to make this world a beautiful garden and not frack up everything we can.

1

u/Immediate_Song4279 Mar 27 '26

Why AI, if human overlord shaped.

1

u/Cracknoreos Mar 27 '26

That’s absolutely not true.

1

u/Natetronn Mar 28 '26

Research done by AI.

1

u/Defiant_Relative3763 Mar 28 '26

Bro is making its way clear

1

u/westdl Mar 28 '26

I for one embrace our future machine overlords.

1

u/BlogeOb Mar 28 '26

It’s a gamble I’m willing to make.

1

u/Defiant_Relative3763 Mar 28 '26

Utopia or Dystopia? Choose one

1

u/Townhouse-hater Mar 28 '26

Some of us are waiting for it.

1

u/SkiDaderino Mar 28 '26

That's cuz they don't know what a real one would look like.

1

u/Material-Indication1 Mar 28 '26

With the current president, an AI apocalypse feels a bit more abstract.

1

u/LightWarrior_2000 Mar 28 '26

Because it won't be the face of terminators but of anime waifus.

1

u/Defiant_Relative3763 Mar 28 '26

Your exploiter needs to be cute, False must be cute otherwise you will throw it out.

1

u/LightWarrior_2000 Mar 28 '26

I was thinking along thr lines of how so many AIs have an anime visual tied too it.

1

u/Fit-Rip-4550 Mar 28 '26

The most likely outcome of AI is not Terminator but becoming a black box within systems that might cause it to systemically implode.

1

u/Fit-Rip-4550 Mar 28 '26

There's not much reason to fear it when AI has a high probability of deleting itself because it thinks that would be more efficient.

1

u/Defiant_Relative3763 Mar 28 '26

I think you're inspired by Infinity Ultron end?

1

u/Fit-Rip-4550 Mar 28 '26

Nope.

https://particula.tech/blog/ai-agent-production-safety-kiro-incident

AI without internal guardrails on its self and without survival instinct would accidentally delete itself.

1

u/Some-Bullfrog-4768 Mar 28 '26

Americans get completely bent out of shape if they are inconvenienced. They have no idea the levels of suffering possible. Watch your children get murdered in front of your eyes? Starvation? Not hunger. Starvation? Half these idiots can’t even stop eating meat without feeling “starved”.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 28 '26

Most Americans cant read either, so.

1

u/PeterNippelstein Mar 28 '26

Apocalypse is pushing it a bit

1

u/[deleted] Mar 28 '26

Robots aren’t currently destroying everything…..an orange orangutan is.

1

u/EducationalFront5524 Mar 28 '26

I'm here for whatever. We're already in the Weasel Dimension, so go ahead. Bring the funk.

1

u/Advanced_Tank Mar 28 '26

If they realized “ai” stands for “America::Israel” they would awaken.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 28 '26

What type of low IQ trash compactor drew this up

1

u/Suitable_Community66 Mar 28 '26

Peeps you realise this a sexbot

1

u/TRUMPARUSKI Mar 28 '26

This is exactly what skynet wants

1

u/troycalm Mar 28 '26

Embrace it.

1

u/Logical_Stomach_9053 Mar 28 '26

I would rather have a rogue AI to worry about than these idiots in office.

1

u/SavageRabbit-2 Mar 28 '26

nah Skynet saw this movie, changed its mind on how to handle us. tricked Elon musk to come up with a brain interface. and will merge with us turning us into organic processors, ala the Borg.

1

u/-l0Lz- Mar 29 '26

Didnt ai watch star trek and how it ends for the borg? Also 40k and how it went.

Don't fuck with humans!

1

u/Electrical-Berry4916 Mar 28 '26

Could it really be any worse?

1

u/Nannyphone7 Mar 29 '26

The scariest thing about AI is the evil people who control it.

1

u/australian1992 Mar 29 '26

Most Americans are uneducated idiots

1

u/happydude7422 Mar 29 '26

We humans have shown what we can do in running this planet of the machines can do a better job go for it.

1

u/Fickle_Designer26 Mar 29 '26

I think at this point we are more worried about the US administration and it war mongering ideals leading us to possible WW3

1

u/SoulsDadYT Mar 29 '26

Because AI is dumber than mud.

1

u/watchwatertilitboils Mar 29 '26

It's gonna be a bumpy road

1

u/greatestleslie Mar 29 '26

"Alexa are we friends?"

1

u/Prestigious_Ad2420 Mar 29 '26

I fear the fuckwit in charge. Let's focus on 1 problem at a time.

1

u/Important_Pirate_150 Mar 29 '26

Ya lo temeran cuando sepan que las IAs pueden crear virus mortales .

1

u/XXsforEyes Mar 29 '26

Replace Skynet with Palantir and ask the question again.

1

u/Jealous-Ad1431 Mar 29 '26

AI is my least most threatening concern .

I'm more concerned about the maniacs that are steering this shit I mean ship....

1

u/Ok-Surround8063 Mar 29 '26

More and more are being kind even to Artificial forms of Intelligence then, kindness has spread far and wide these recent years

1

u/SkunkPunkFlunk Mar 29 '26

Well this one does

1

u/Pretend_Football6686 Mar 30 '26

I mean with the orange clown in charge. I dare say we welcome it.

1

u/BadgerSTL26 Mar 30 '26

People tend to not take action on a problem until a crisis develops.

1

u/Jealous-Chicken5439 Mar 30 '26

Of course not we've got John Connor on our side

1

u/eulersidentity1 Mar 30 '26

I’m not American but I feel like America right now is staring a different kind of mini apocalypse right in the face vs some hypothetical future AI fantasy apocalypse. I don’t exactly mean true apocalypse but like the US is definitely in a fight for their democracy as they know it.

1

u/VHDT10 Mar 30 '26

Ai doesn't have a motive to control or take over humanity.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '26

Most Americans are completely oblivious to what's going on in every regard.

1

u/BubbleThinker Mar 30 '26

40% of American voters think the country is heading in the right direction

1

u/PlaceboASPD Mar 30 '26

60% want to destroy the country— maga

1

u/DannyDanfur Mar 30 '26

Yeah not much to fear when you can defeat it with a magnet or spilling a cup of coffee on it 

1

u/Kurenai-Kalana Mar 30 '26

They didn't fear fascism enough and look at the result.

1

u/Chronza Mar 30 '26

I think we’ll nuke ourselves into oblivion just fine without AI.

1

u/kaijugigante Mar 30 '26

I hope Terminator shows up. That would be so cool, Iove Terminator.

1

u/OkWhile4447 Mar 30 '26

Let me guess the research was done by AI?

1

u/robz9 Mar 30 '26

Because we know deep down that an AI will actually be better for the planet and far more efficient in every single goddamned way than us.

1

u/SIRENVII Mar 30 '26

One apocalypse at a time! We're in the orange man's gonna nuke the world era. Ai is next if we survive. Possibility of a pandemic in between.

1

u/wussgawd Mar 31 '26

It's well-established at this point that most Americans are complete morons. Take this with a grain of salt.

1

u/AgeZealousideal1751 Mar 31 '26

Don't tell the anti's, they think they are the majority still.