42% of Gen Z believes AI will harm their ability to think

Source: Gallup | Walton Family Research

Study: Gen Z's AI Adoption Steady, but Skepticism Climbs (Part of the Voices of Gen Z Study)

Key Findings

• 51% of Gen Z use AI daily or weekly, essentially unchanged from 2025. Adoption has plateaued. The feelings about it have not
• Excitement about AI dropped 14 points to just 22%. Hopefulness fell 9 points to 18%. Anger rose 9 points to 31%. Anxiety holds steady at 42%
• Even daily AI users are losing enthusiasm, excitement among daily users dropped 18 points in a single year
• 8 in 10 Gen Zers believe AI will make it harder to learn in the future. 34% say it's "very likely," 46% say "somewhat likely"
• 42% believe AI will harm their ability to think carefully. Only 25% think it will help
• More Gen Z workers see risk than reward. 48% say AI risks outweigh its benefits in the workforce, up from 37% a year ago. Only 15% say the benefits outweigh the risks
• 69% of Gen Z workers trust human-only work. Only 28% trust AI-assisted work. 3% trust AI-only output
• School AI policies jumped sharply. 74% of K-12 students now say their school has AI rules, up from 51% in 2025

Risks & Advantages

Gen Z isn't rejecting AI, they're using it constantly. What's shifting is something more important: