Artificial Intelligence: Friend or Foe?

The use of artificial intelligence has become widespread in many areas, from internet search to shopping or even job applications. A recent Statista+ study found that 70 percent of Americans and 64 percent of Brits said they had used artificial intelligence when applying for a job in the past 24 months. But how much do people actually trust this technology? According to data collected by Statista between January and March 2026, maybe not so much.

Respondents in the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom were between 30 and 32 percent to say they worried about the speed at which AI is developing, making it the most selected statement out of a selection of eight on artificial intelligence in all three countries. In second position in both the U.S. and Germany came "I’m not convinced AI is as effective as people say", selected by 28 and 25 percent of people, respectively. In the UK, the mood was more positive: the second most selected satement was "I'm excited about AI" (31 percent).

In the U.S., a quarter of the people surveyed (25 percent) said they avoid AI as much as possible, while 18 percent said they use AI but don't feel good about it. People in the United Kingdom showed slightly more enthusiasm towards artificial intelligence: they were 17 percent to say they are always first to use new AI features, compared to 14 percent in the United States and 11 percent in Germany.