Most Americans think artificial intelligence is developing too fast, a new AP-NORC poll finds

Most Americans think artificial intelligence is developing too fast, a new AP-NORC poll finds. The poll, conducted September 24-28, 2026 among 2,140 U.S. adults, shows that 64% say AI is moving “too quickly,” while only 27% say the pace is about right and 8% say it is too slow. The findings, released October 8, 2026, reveal broad, bipartisan anxiety about AI’s effects on jobs, safety, and oversight, and strong support for government action to keep the technology under human control. The AP-NORC Poll: 64% of Americans Say AI Is Developing Too Fast.

What Does the AP-NORC Poll Say About AI Development Speed?

The AP-NORC poll found that nearly two-thirds of American adults believe AI is developing too quickly. The survey, run by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research from September 24-28, 2026, asked a nationally representative sample of 2,140 U.S. adults how they view the pace of artificial intelligence development. The results show a public that is uneasy, not indifferent: only a small minority believes the current speed is correct, and almost no one wants AI to move faster.

The headline numbers break down as follows:

• 64%, AI is developing too quickly

• 27%, AI is developing at about the right pace

• 8%, AI is developing too slowly

The margin of sampling error is ±2.9 percentage points, which means the core finding, a solid majority worried about speed, is statistically firm. You can read the full results on the AP-NORC project page for the poll.

How Many Americans Think AI Is Developing Too Fast?

Across every major national poll in 2026, between 63% and 71% of Americans say AI development is moving too fast. The AP-NORC figure of 64% is not an outlier. It sits in the middle of a remarkable cluster of independent surveys:

PollDatesShare saying AI is too fastAP-NORCSept 24-28, 202664%IpsosSept 202666%Pew Research CenterJune 202663%Economist/YouGovMay 9-11, 202671%

This consistency matters. When four separate organizations, using different question wording and samples, land within a few points of each other, the underlying public sentiment is real and stable. As Pew’s chart on AI attitudes shows, roughly two-thirds of Americans have held this view throughout 2026.

Why Do Americans Worry About the AI Development Pace?

Americans worry about AI speed because it touches jobs, safety, and trust in institutions, three things people feel are changing faster than anyone can manage. The AP-NORC poll and its accompanying reporting make these concerns concrete through personal stories.

A Minnesota truck driver, Ron Theusch, told poll interviewers he fears that self-driving trucks on Interstate 35 will threaten both his livelihood and highway safety. A Utah junior-high teacher, Stephanie Stewart, criticized the lack of strong regulation and oversight of AI systems in classrooms and society at large. These are not abstract anxieties about robot uprisings; they are practical fears about economic security and institutional competence.

The AP report on the poll frames the central tension well: people use AI tools, watch companies race to deploy them, and conclude that no one is checking whether the race is safe.

What Are the Main Concerns About Fast AI Development?

The main concerns are job displacement, safety and accuracy of AI outputs, and weak human oversight. Ipsos’s 2026 AI polling breaks down what Americans want the federal government to do:

• 63%, ensure AI outputs do not cause harm

• 53%, ensure AI outputs are accurate

• 49%, regulate to prevent widespread job losses

• 41%, evaluate AI’s environmental impacts

• 34%, regulate where AI data centers can be located

Those last two items are worth noting. Public concern about AI extends beyond chatbots and self-driving cars into energy use, water consumption, and physical infrastructure, a sign that Americans see AI as a technology with society-wide footprint, not just a software feature. The Ipsos AI key insights page tracks these expectations in detail.

How Does Public Opinion on AI Speed Vary by Age, Gender, and Party?

Concern about AI’s pace spans every age group, though it is strongest among older adults and women. Pew’s June 2026 report on “Americans and AI” found that between 61% and 65% of every age bracket say AI is advancing too quickly, a rare case of generational agreement.

The differences that do exist are instructive:

• Gender: 68% of women versus 58% of men say AI is moving too fast.

• Age: 79% of adults 65 and older say AI is too fast, while adults under 30 are more split, 64% say too fast, but 33% say the pace is about right (per Economist/YouGov, May 2026).

• Party: 76% of Democrats versus 54% of Republicans say AI is developing too quickly, per AP-NORC.

Younger adults’ relative comfort makes sense: they use AI tools daily and have more runway to adapt to a changed job market. Older adults, closer to retirement and more reliant on stable systems, see mostly downside risk.

What Do Experts and Other Polls Say About AI Development Speed?

Other pollsters find the same public mood, and in some cases an even stronger appetite for slowing down. A Quinnipiac University poll conducted September 24-27, 2026 among 1,202 adults found:

• 30% want to stop developing powerful AI systems until safety can be evaluated

• 47% want development slowed down

• 14% favor continuing at the current pace

• Only 5% want faster development

• 86% support stronger safety and transparency requirements for AI companies

A Reuters/Ipsos survey released October 7, 2026 found 80% of Democrats and 61% of Republicans back stricter AI regulation. A Harris Poll/HarrisX survey for Harvard’s Center for American Political Studies found 74% of voters want a dedicated bipartisan AI regulator, and 66% reject the argument that regulation would hurt U.S. competitiveness against China.

Is AI Actually Developing Faster Than Before?

Yes, by most technical measures, AI capability has advanced faster in the 2020s than in any prior period. Large AI models that once took years to improve now see major capability jumps every few months, and companies are deploying them directly into search engines, phones, vehicles, and workplace software within weeks of release. That deployment speed is what the public is reacting to. The AP-NORC poll does not measure technical progress; it measures whether people believe institutions can keep up with that progress. The answer, from two-thirds of the country, is no.

What Could Slow Down AI Development?

The realistic levers for slowing AI development are regulation, safety standards, and market pressure, not a public petition. The polling points to several specific mechanisms Americans support:

• Safety and transparency requirements: 86% support requiring AI companies to meet stronger safety standards (Quinnipiac, 2026).

• Human control mandates: about eight in ten want the government to prioritize keeping AI under human control (AP-NORC, 2026).

• Job protections: roughly half want regulation aimed at preventing widespread AI-driven job losses.

• Dedicated oversight bodies: 74% of voters want a bipartisan agency specifically for AI regulation (Harris Poll/HarrisX, 2026).

Rasmussen Reports finds 64% of likely voters now say government needs to regulate AI, up from 61% in March 2026, a small but clear upward trend.

How Do Other Countries View AI Development Speed?

Comparable international polling in 2026 is more limited, but the U.S. pattern, majorities uneasy about speed, minorities enthusiastic about benefits, matches what European surveys have generally shown in recent years: greater support for strict regulation in the EU, where the AI Act set an early global benchmark, than in the U.S. The American polling data suggests the U.S. public is converging toward the more cautious European posture, even as U.S. policy moves in a more permissive direction. This gap between public preference and policy trajectory is itself part of what drives the disapproval numbers.

What Are the Risks and Benefits of Rapid AI Advancement?

The risks Americans focus on are economic and safety-related; the benefits they acknowledge are real but discounted. In rough terms:

Risks most cited in 2026 polling

• Job displacement, especially in driving, customer service, and clerical work

• Inaccurate or harmful AI outputs with no clear accountability

• Weak regulatory oversight as deployment outpaces review

• Energy and infrastructure strain from data centers

Benefits most cited

• Medical and scientific research acceleration

• Productivity gains and cost savings for businesses

• Improved accessibility tools for people with disabilities

The public’s position is not anti-technology. It is anti-unmanaged technology. That distinction, visible in the eight-in-ten who want human control prioritized, is the single most important nuance in the AP-NORC data.

When Was This AP-NORC Poll Conducted and How Accurate Is It?

The AP-NORC poll was conducted September 24-28, 2026, among 2,140 U.S. adults, with a margin of sampling error of ±2.9 percentage points, and released October 8, 2026. NORC at the University of Chicago, which runs the poll with the Associated Press, uses probability-based sampling designed to represent the adult U.S. population, which is more reliable than opt-in online panels.

Polls measure opinion, not truth, they tell you what people believe about AI, not whether that belief is technically correct. But when a poll this large is corroborated by four other national surveys within the same year, as this one is, the opinion itself becomes the fact worth reporting: most Americans think artificial intelligence is developing too fast, and that sentiment is stable across months, pollsters, and demographic groups.

What Should Be Done About AI Development Concerns?

The polling points to a clear, bipartisan agenda: safety standards, transparency requirements, worker protections, and human oversight. What Americans want, in order of consensus strength:

1. Keep AI under human control (about eight in ten adults).

2. Protect American workers from AI-driven displacement (about eight in ten).

3. Require stronger safety and transparency rules for AI companies (86%).

4. Ensure AI outputs are accurate and do not cause harm (53-63%).

Notably, 67% of Americans disapprove of President Trump’s handling of AI policy, and about four in ten say they trust neither party on the issue, suggesting a genuine opening for whichever institution, party, or agency credibly claims the oversight role the public is asking for.

FAQ

How many Americans think AI is developing too fast?
64% of U.S. adults say AI is developing too quickly, according to the AP-NORC poll conducted September 24-28, 2026. Independent polls from Pew (63%), Ipsos (66%), and Economist/YouGov (71%) found similar results.

When was the AP-NORC AI poll conducted?
The poll surveyed 2,140 U.S. adults from September 24 to 28, 2026, and was released on October 8, 2026. The margin of sampling error is ±2.9 percentage points.

Do Republicans and Democrats agree on AI development speed?
Partly. 76% of Democrats and 54% of Republicans say AI is developing too fast, a 22-point gap, but large majorities in both parties support government action to keep AI under human control and protect workers.

What share of Americans want AI development stopped entirely?
About 30% want to stop developing powerful AI systems until safety can be evaluated, and 47% want development slowed down, per a Quinnipiac poll from late September 2026. Only 5% want faster development.

Do younger Americans feel differently about AI speed?
Somewhat. 64% of adults under 30 say AI is moving too fast, but 33% in that group say the pace is about right, the highest “right pace” share of any age group. Among adults 65 and older, 79% say AI is too fast.

Do Americans want more AI regulation?
Yes, across party lines. A Reuters/Ipsos survey from October 2026 found 80% of Democrats and 61% of Republicans support stricter AI regulation, and Rasmussen finds 64% of likely voters say government needs to regulate AI.

Do Americans trust either political party on AI?
Not really. About four in ten Americans say they do not trust either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party to manage AI technology effectively, and 67% disapprove of President Trump’s handling of AI policy.

Is concern about AI speed limited to the U.S.?
The U.S. data mirrors the more cautious posture seen in European polling in recent years, where strict AI regulation has generally drawn stronger public support than in the U.S., though comparable 2026 international surveys are more limited.

Key Takeaways

• 64% of U.S. adults say AI technology is developing too quickly, according to the AP-NORC poll of 2,140 adults conducted September 24-28, 2026 (margin of error ±2.9 percentage points).

• Only 27% say AI is developing at about the right pace; 8% say it is too slow.

• Partisan gaps exist: 76% of Democrats versus 54% of Republicans say AI is moving too fast.

• About eight in ten Americans want the U.S. government to prioritize keeping AI under human control and protecting workers from AI-related risks.

• 67% disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of AI policy, and about four in ten trust neither major party to manage AI.

• Independent polls from Pew, Ipsos, Economist/YouGov, and Quinnipiac in 2026 confirm the same pattern: roughly two-thirds of Americans want AI development slowed down.

Conclusion

Most Americans think artificial intelligence is developing too fast, a new AP-NORC poll finds, and five other national surveys in 2026 confirm it. The number is stable (63-71%), bipartisan at the level of solutions if not diagnosis, and rooted in concrete worries: jobs, safety, accuracy, and the sense that no institution is steering. For policymakers, the actionable path is clear: safety and transparency standards, worker protections, and enforceable human oversight command support from roughly eight in ten adults. For readers, the practical next steps are simple, follow the AP-NORC polling project and Pew’s ongoing AI research to track whether this sentiment shifts as regulation debates unfold, and watch whether any party or agency moves to fill the trust vacuum the polls have now measured three times in a single year.