Key Takeaways
- A Pew Research Center survey conducted in June 2026 found that 73% of U.S. adults under 30 expect AI to reduce job availability over the next two decades, up from 61% in 2024, the steepest rise of any age group and now roughly on par with adults 30-64.
- For the first time, a majority of young adults (55%) say they are more concerned than excited about AI in daily life, reversing a pattern Pew had consistently found since 2021.
- Only 9% of all American adults say they feel predominantly excited about AI’s expansion, the figure employers and educators building AI-ready workforces need to sit with. Young Americans are now the most AI-anxious generation in the country, a reversal that would have seemed unlikely five years ago. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in June 2026 found that 73% of U.S. adults under 30 expect AI to reduce job availability over the next two decades, up from 61% in 2024, the steepest rise of any age group and now roughly on par with adults 30-64.
The Job Numbers
Across all U.S. adults, 71% now expect AI to reduce job opportunities, up from 64% in 2024. The jump among under-30s, from 61% to 73%, is the steepest of any age group. Only 5% of respondents nationwide believe AI will create more jobs, according to the survey.
The concern is sharpest around entry-level roles. Many young workers worry AI is automating the tasks traditionally handled by new hires, making it harder to land a first job. A Deloitte survey from 2024 found that a majority of Gen Z respondents believed the rise of generative AI would push them toward roles less exposed to automation, including skilled trades and manual work. How far entry-level white-collar hiring has already been affected is harder to verify from public data alone.
From Optimists to Sceptics
In 2021, only 31% of adults under 30 said they were more concerned than excited about AI’s growing role in daily life. By 2024 that had risen to 39%. The June 2026 Pew survey puts it at 55%, the first time a majority of young adults have come down on the concern side. The share saying they are more excited than concerned has dropped from 25% five years ago to just 11%.
Young adults were, until recently, the demographic Pew consistently found most enthusiastic about AI. Their scepticism now meets or exceeds that of respondents in their 30s, 40s and beyond. The pattern of rollbacks and disappointment with AI deployments in enterprise settings may partly explain why early adopters have grown less credulous about the technology’s benefits.
Creativity, Connection and Broader Fears
Worries about jobs are the headline, but the unease runs wider. Pew’s data shows young adults are more likely than older groups to believe AI will harm society broadly. Around 20% of adults under 30 say AI chatbots hurt their creativity, the highest share of any age group in the survey. Fears about AI eroding human connection and displacing artistic expression also register more strongly among younger respondents. A generation that has spent more time with AI tools than any other is, on this evidence, less persuaded by them, not more.
The Training Gap
The Deloitte survey found that roughly half of Gen Z respondents and a large share of Millennials felt their employers were not adequately training them on generative AI’s capabilities or value. That perception gap matters: workers who distrust the technology and feel under-equipped to use it are a poor foundation for the AI-ready workforce most organisations say they want to build.
As of the June 2026 Pew survey, only 9% of all American adults said they felt predominantly excited about AI’s expansion.
Originally published at https://autonainews.com/young-adults-ai-job-anxiety-peaks-june-2026-pew-survey/
