59% of young people believe AI poses a threat to their job prospects, according to a new Harvard Youth Poll

• Young people are pessimistic about the impact AI will have on their job prospects, per a new poll.
• 59% of Americans surveyed between 18 and 29 believe AI poses a threat to their job prospects, a new Harvard Youth Poll says.
• The poll also found that 52% of young people trust AI to help them complete assignments.

A new poll found that many young people are concerned about how AI will impact their lives.

59% of Americans surveyed between the ages of 18 and 29 say that they view AI as a threat to their job prospects, according to the Harvard Youth Poll.

That includes 26% who said AI poses a major threat, while 33% said that it poses a minor threat. Another 23% said that AI poses no threat.

That's higher than the level of concern about other traditional drivers of job losses: 48% of young people surveyed said that outsourcing poses a threat to their job prospects, while 31% said the same about immigration.

Still, younger Americans are adopting the technology. 35% of those polled said they regularly use LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude, while 63% said they did not. And 52% said they trusted AI to help them complete work or school assignments.

The Harvard Youth Poll surveyed 2,040 Americans aged 18 to 29 between November 3 and 7. The margin of error was 2.94%.

The poll also found pessimism about how AI will impact work itself.

41% of those surveyed said they expect AI will make work less meaningful in the future, versus just 14% who said it would make work more meaningful.

Similarly, 44% of young people who participated in the poll said that AI would take away opportunities from them, while just 14% said it would create new opportunities.