A Reuters/Ipsos poll finds 53% of Americans fear artificial intelligence could cost them or someone in their household a job, underscoring growing anxiety as companies cut workers while expanding AI investments.
For freelance writer Jennifer Schalhoub, the worry about artificial intelligence wasn’t theoretical. She said she recently lost her job writing letters to government officials to advocate for specific policies, and she suspects AI played a role.
Schalhoub, 62, of Little Ferry, New Jersey, described the shift in stark terms: “AI is taking over because people care less and less about the quality of the work that gets produced.”
Her account lands alongside a new Reuters/Ipsos poll that finds most Americans share her concern. More than half of U.S. adults—53%—fear AI could cost them or someone in their household a job, according to the six-day survey of 4,531 people nationwide.
The anxiety is broad. The poll found concern about job losses is consistent across age, gender and education levels. Democrats were more likely than Republicans to express that fear. but the central message held across demographics: AI is arriving at the same time that employment prospects feel increasingly fragile.
That timing matters. The poll followed a wave of AI-related job cuts by major companies, as firms increase investments in artificial intelligence while trimming their workforce.
Software firm Intuit told staff last month it would lay off 17% of its global workforce to streamline operations and sharpen focus on its key bets, including its AI efforts. The scale of the layoffs is part of the reason the fear is gaining traction beyond any single sector.
A separate April report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas found U.S. employers announced 60,620 layoffs in March, with AI adoption identified as the primary reason behind a quarter of the cuts.
Other executives have been just as explicit. Last year, Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski told CNBC the Swedish fintech reduced its workforce by 40%. And Ford CEO Jim Farley said AI will “replace literally half of all white-collar workers in the U.S.”
Even with the differences in industry and management style, the pattern readers are absorbing is the same: AI isn’t only changing how companies work—it is changing who they employ.
That shift is colliding with a weaker hiring market for the next generation of workers. A Cengage Group survey found 76% of employers reported hiring for fewer or the same number of entry-level roles in 2025. up from 69% in 2024. At the same time. a Federal Reserve Bank of New York study found 42% of recent college graduates are “underemployed. ” the highest level since 2020—meaning they are working jobs that don’t typically require a college degree.
AI faces its own public backlash, adding another layer to the job-loss anxiety. The technology has drawn warnings over potential use as a tool of political propaganda, in entertainment, and even warfare. Elected leaders and even Pope Leo XIV have weighed in.
On May 25, the Catholic Church published Leo’s encyclicals, where it said what is needed for AI “is a more active political involvement that is capable of slowing things down when everything is accelerating.”
In the U.S., the backlash has shown up in more informal settings too. University of Arizona students booed Eric Schmidt last month when the former Google CEO discussed AI’s impact at a graduation ceremony.
The unease is not only cultural—it is also economic. While AI is not the only factor in tightened hiring, Peter Watkins, senior director of university programs at the CFA Institute, previously told this outlet that the technology is playing a role.
He said, “If firms are looking to make resource reductions, AI starts to become a solution for that, whereas in another economic climate, they’d probably be using it more in terms of innovation and growth.”
For many Americans, that distinction may be difficult to feel on the ground. One side of the debate is about productivity and investment. The other side is about livelihoods, and the speed with which AI is moving from experimentation into the workplace.
By the time a poll is released and a layoff message is delivered, the question many workers carry is simple: whether AI is being introduced to grow jobs—or to replace them first.
AI job losses Reuters Ipsos poll Intuit layoffs Challenger Gray & Christmas layoffs underemployment college grads CFA Institute Peter Watkins Pope Leo XIV encyclicals AI