Americans are growing more anxious about artificial intelligence (AI) but it isn’t exactly what you think: They’re more worried about losing control of the technology than losing their jobs because of it.
Cybernews and nexos.ai analyzed Google Trends data from January through October around five areas of AI-related concerns: control and regulation; data and privacy; bias and ethics; misinformation and trust; and job displacement and workforce impact.
Researchers tracked search patterns for keywords indicating worry, such as “is ai legal” and “is ai private” to gauge public anxiety levels.
Inaccuracy was the most frequently reported negative outcome of AI implementation, followed closely by cybersecurity risks, with 51% of organizations actively working to mitigate threats stemming from unauthorized AI tools. The phenomenon, known as shadow AI, occurs when employees deploy unapproved AI applications without proper oversight.
“The increase in AI anxiety means that people aren’t just blindly using AI and hoping for the best – they’re actually starting to understand the risks,” Cybernews researchers said, expressing hope users will make more informed decisions about engaging with AI.
The concerns of consumers indeed may mirror those of enterprises, where AI coding tools are increasingly in use. Employees are quickly learning to adapt to managing AI agents that work for them, but issues of security and accuracy remain challenges, Box Inc. Chief Technology Officer Ben Kus said in an interview.
Policy developments may have fueled that sentiment, researchers said, pointing to 260 lawmakers urging Congress in June to lift a moratorium on state-level AI regulations. At the same time, the Texas legislature passed its Responsible AI Governance Act and California released a policy highlighting AI’s potential harm, particularly over privacy.
Heightened regulatory anxiety may reflect Americans’ growing awareness that the U.S. lacks federal AI framework, unlike the European Union, which implemented the world’s first AI Act.
Control and regulation dominated public concern until August, when data and privacy worries coincided with major AI companies releasing security threat reports. Microsoft Corp. published findings on prompt injection attacks, while Anthropic disclosed how its model was exploited in a large-scale data theft campaign.
“As people learn how much of their personal and business data is used by AI tools, they are becoming more concerned about privacy,” said Emanuelis Norbutas, chief technology officer at nexos.ai. He said users often don’t realize how much sensitive information they share through file uploads, chat logs, and API calls.
Norbutas emphasized protecting privacy requires action beyond mere interest, including establishing clear data policies, limiting information shared with AI models, and demanding transparency from service providers.
Surprisingly, despite 112,000 tech layoffs throughout 2025 amid cost cuts and AI-fueled restructuring, job displacement and workforce impact ranked lowest among anxiety categories. Even after Microsoft announced plans to lay off 3% of its workforce because of AI adoption in May, and Amazon.com Inc. followed suit with the threat of 30,000 job cuts, search interest in job-related concerns showed no notable increase.
