There's One Clear Reason Americans Are Gloomy About A.I. [View all]

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Different generations feel pinched in different ways. For younger Americans — who are most likely to be working in gigs, early-career jobs or positions most exposed to A.I. substitution — the absence of an income floor is the threat. (Note that there is recent research suggesting remote work also has held young people back, but A.I. is still a factor.)

For workers in their 40s and 50s with families, mortgages and ongoing health care needs, the American safety net fails even more comprehensively. Blame employer-linked health care. Every other rich country in the survey — including Germany, France, Japan, Australia, Canada and Britain — provides health care independently of one’s job. Losing your job in those countries means losing income. Losing your job in America means losing income and health coverage simultaneously, often for an entire family.

Job loss in the United States is more threatening than anywhere else in the wealthy world. It turns what should be a setback into a potential cascade — income, insurance, mortgage and child care, all at risk at once. Meanwhile, A.I. chief executives won’t stop telling Americans A.I. is coming for them. The technology is a missile aimed at the most fragile part of the American socioeconomic bargain.

No wonder Americans are pessimistic about A.I. While better messaging will not fix this, decoupling health care from employment might. Building an unemployment insurance system that replaces income at a meaningful level might. Americans’ pessimism about A.I. is largely rational, about a technology tailor-made to crack their crumbling and antiquated social compact.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/25/opinion/ai-americans-pessimism.html?

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Fuck AI and Fuck AI apologists!