Americans’ Trust in Businesses’ AI Use Drops to 27%, Bentley-Gallup Survey Finds

Americans are growing less confident that businesses will use AI responsibly, even as they report knowing more about the technology. The 2026 Bentley-Gallup Business in Society Survey, released October 6, puts that trust at 27%, down from 31% last year. Meanwhile, 79% expect AI to reduce U.S. jobs over the next decade.

The findings reflect views collected months before publication. Gallup surveyed 3,270 U.S. adults online from May 4–11, 2026. The nationally representative study reports a margin of sampling error of ±2.4 percentage points for responses around 50%, at the 95% confidence level. Its job figures measure expectations, not actual employment losses.

Four years of goodwill gains end

Business entered this year with improving public sentiment. The share saying companies have a positive impact on people’s lives rose from 55% in 2022 to 65% in 2025. It fell to 61% this year, ending four years of gains but remaining above the survey’s starting point.

Prices were another source of dissatisfaction. Eighty-nine percent said the products and services they buy had become more expensive over the past year. Eighty percent believed businesses raised prices more than necessary to increase profits. Those are consumers’ judgments about corporate choices, rather than a measurement of companies’ costs or margins.

Asked how businesses should respond when costs rise, 74% supported accepting lower profits. Raising prices drew support from 49%, while reducing product size or quantity drew 40%. Far fewer backed measures affecting workers: 15% supported reducing staff, and 4% supported cutting employee pay and benefits.

Familiarity grows, but doubts deepen

The share saying AI does more harm than good climbed from 31% to 39%; just 9% said the reverse. Concern about job losses rose from 73% in 2025, the first increase since the survey began tracking that expectation.

Young adults drove much of the shift. Among respondents ages 18–29, 47% said AI does more harm than good, up 11 percentage points. The share expressing no trust at all in businesses’ AI use rose from 29% to 41%.

Disclosure has limits in advertising

New questions on AI-generated advertising reveal a more specific boundary. Seventy-nine percent said they had seen ads that appeared AI-created in the previous month. Overall, 49% viewed businesses’ use of AI in advertising negatively, compared with 19% who viewed it positively.

• Brainstorming and drafting: 75% found AI assistance to employees acceptable when its use was disclosed.
• Finished ad material: 53% accepted AI-created final text, images or video when disclosed.
• Synthetic people and voices: 62% said using AI to create people or voices in advertisements was unacceptable, even when disclosed.

Gallup senior partner Stephanie Marken urged business leaders to broaden the conversation beyond AI’s capabilities to its effects on people’s work and lives. She described understanding those concerns as part of responsible innovation.