AI Is Feared Globally as the Destroyer of Jobs
Pew Research Center published a 37-country survey of 42,151 people on 17 September 2026 finding that in 34 of those countries, people are more likely to expect AI to reduce jobs over the next 20 years than to create them. Worry peaks in Australia and South Korea at 76 percent and the United States at 71 percent, up seven points since 2024. This article covers what Pew actually asked, the demographic splits by age, gender, income and ideology, the parallel finding on inequality, the counterweight that a global median of 41 percent feel equally concerned and excited, and the fact that fieldwork closed on 13 May — before the autumn AI safety panic.