Poll Shows Americans Want to Slow AI Development Due to Harm Fears
Left 0%
Center 100%
Right 0%
0 left · 3 center · 0 right
What happened
A Marquette University Law School poll found that 64 percent of respondents said the development of artificial intelligence is a bad thing for society and 36 percent said it is a good thing. A separate CBS News/YouGov survey of 2,051 U.S. adults, conducted September 16-18, 2026 and weighted to national demographics, found most Americans want to slow AI development rather than stop it. That poll reported majority concern that AI could harm humans—either acting on its own or being used by people to harm others—and long-standing worry that AI will reduce jobs. Respondents also said the United States needs to develop AI to compete, including faster than China, and saw potential for medical and scientific breakthroughs; very few favored stopping development entirely.
Sourcing check · Partly on the record · 4 articles
1 of 3 articles cite a named source for the story. It was on the record from the first report.
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- Primary evidence means the article cites a record you could check yourself: a court filing or ruling, a dataset or report, a recording or transcript, an official statement or press release, market data. A quote is not a document. The count is how many articles cite one. Here: poll results, poll
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- How it developed
- When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Sep 17, 19:02 UTC by The Hill, naming its source. First document in the first report, from The Hill (poll results).
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ONE-SIDED THIS WEEK.
Only left-leaning outlets have covered this story in the last two days;
Breitbart reported it on 2026-09-08.
Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
Left-leaning coverage treats Americans' view of AI as a simple majority verdict that the technology is bad for society, while another national poll finds they want development slowed rather than stopped. That Marquette poll, reported by The Hill, put the bad-for-society share at 64 percent. Right-leaning outlets had not covered this as of publication. The Hill account never mentions the CBS News result that very few think the work should be stopped completely. A reader who only sees the silent side therefore misses the majority-negative Marquette result and the slow-not-stop finding alike.
Left-leaning coverage leads with the phrase "a bad thing." The CBS News story instead opens on a public that wants development slowed rather than ended.
Do the Marquette respondents who called AI bad still want the United States to move faster than China?
Bottom line
The Hill told readers that 64 percent of Americans think AI is bad for society, not the CBS News finding that almost nobody wants development stopped, and right-leaning outlets ran neither poll.
The receipts — 2 facts one side's coverage lacks
- Views on AI do not closely follow age or partisanship
- 36 percent of Marquette respondents said AI is a good thing
The Left View
The Hill led with the Marquette result that almost two in three Americans view AI development as a bad thing, stressing the 64–36 split. CBS News framed a more mixed picture: pessimism about harm and job losses outweighs optimism, yet most people want development slowed, not halted, because of competitiveness and possible discoveries. CBS reported shared company-and-government responsibility, more support for government restrictions than promotion, and that views did not closely follow age or partisanship, though job-loss fears tracked with greater pessimism.
Our Take (balanced)
The story is substantive: it rests on named surveys, including a CBS News/YouGov poll with a disclosed sample, dates, weighting, and ±2.5-point margin of error. The Marquette 64/36 split and the CBS directional findings (slow, do not stop; harm and jobs concerns; compete with China) are established as what those polls reported; they are not a census of all Americans. No right-leaning outlet has reported this. Watch for full Marquette question wording and crosstabs, independent replications, and any company or government response.
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