In the past two years since the explosion of generative AI, people have taken it for granted that young people, as natives of the Internet, are the most enthusiastic believers in this technology. On the surface this is indeed the case. Data from the Pew Research Center shows that 54% of American teenagers have begun using tools such as ChatGPT to complete their studies. Gallup's latest "Voice of Generation Z: The AI Paradox" report also shows that more than half (51%) of people aged 14 to 29 in the United States maintain a high-frequency habit of using AI on a daily or weekly basis.
But behavior does not equal intention. Gallup also found that in just one year,The proportion of people aged 14 to 29 who feel "hopeful" about AI fell from 27% to 18%. Nearly one-third (31%) of respondents feel "angry" and as many as 42% suffer from persistent anxiety.
High-frequency use and the collapse of trust occur at the same time, and people who hate but cannot live without AI are spreading among Generation Z (those born between 1996 and 2012) in the United States.
Why is it that the generation that uses AI the most often distrusts it the least?
01
Anxiety: Keeping enemies close to you
The groups most hostile to AI are newcomers to the workplace who have just entered society or are looking for a starting point.
Gallup data shows that among employed Generation Z, as many as 48% believe that the risks of AI in the workplace far outweigh the benefits, a proportion that has surged by 11 percentage points in one year. Only 15% believe that the benefits outweigh the risks.
The reason is not difficult to understand. The economic environment is not good, and it is difficult for American graduates to find jobs.
Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed that at the end of last year,The unemployment rate for college graduates aged 22 to 27 soared to 5.6%, far exceeding the overall unemployment rate.
In this environment, AI is being promoted as a tool to "improve efficiency" and can become a company's "digital employee." Some AI company executives also often express to the media that "a large number of entry-level white-collar jobs may be replaced by automation in the next few years." Such remarks.
Such jobs are often "junior white-collar jobs" reserved for young people. Without the experience of these junior positions, young people are not even qualified to build a career moat.
Therefore, although this replacement has not yet fully occurred in reality, expectations have already changed the mood in advance,To young people, AI looks like a potential competitor.
The "unemployment wave" cycle coincides with the rise of AI | Source: "The New York Times"
In the New York Times report, many specific plights of Generation Z were mentioned.
For example, Erin, a 22-year-old psychology graduate, sent out nearly 200 resumes to find even a basic business analysis job, but only received 4 interviews. In the end, she could only work as a waitress in a restaurant on Long Island as a transition. The process of finding a job left her physically and mentally exhausted, and she had begun seeking psychological treatment.
Sydney, a freshman, does not know how to choose a major. "I feel that any field I am interested in may be replaced in the next few years." Her confusion represents the vast majority of college students today.
On the other hand, technology giants are constantly laying off employees on the grounds of deploying AI. This is the extremely fragmented reality today. Silicon Valley elites can help companies "reduce costs and increase efficiency," which puts young people in a real situation where they lose their stepping stone into the workplace.
Ironically, in order not to be eliminated——They have to open ChatGPT every day to polish their resumes and ask the big models which universities are easier to get into.
This inconsistency in psychology and behavior towards AI is the core reason why Generation Z is anxious about AI.
02
Fear: AI that has to be used
Given the hostility and mistrust, why do as many as 51% of young people still use it every day or every week?
"New York Times" reporter Callie Holtermann captured the answer in a long interview. She found that the young people interviewed did not think that using AI would be great at all.The driving force that prompts them to open the dialog box is the fear that "if they are not familiar with this technology, they will fall behind in school or career."
The rules of the workplace have been reshaped by AI. When young people browse job postings for entry-level positions, they often see the requirement that "Applicants need to be proficient in using ChatGPT or Gemini."
A recent report from enterprise AI agency Writer is even more brutal: 77% of executives made it clear that employees who refuse to master AI will not be promoted. 60% of managers are even considering directly laying off these people.
This means,In the current workplace and evaluation system, not knowing AI means being eliminated immediately.
The most important reason why employees resist AI is: they don’t want AI to replace their jobs｜Source: WRITER
Even if I barely get a job, this fear will not disappear.
These workers also face the impact of "FOBO" (Fear of becoming obsolete). The report pointed out that 26% of migrant workers believe that AI is directly weakening their creativity and core values within the company.
This is a deep professional deprivation. The market premium for the code, law, or financial knowledge you have studied for years is quickly zeroing out. Accompanying the loss of value is profound doubt about one's own abilities. In a Gallup survey, a large number of young people worry that AI will weaken their critical thinking and creativity.
And this kind of "FOBO" is not only against workers, but also against management who forces employees to embrace AI. According to Writer's report, 69% of companies are laying off employees due to AI, but 39% of them have not thought clearly about how to make money from AI. Even 73% of CEOs themselves feel anxious about AI strategies.
72% of employees feel the pressure of AI to some extent | Source: WRITER
When fear reaches its peak, young people begin to throw sand into the gears of the system.
Nearly half (44%) of Gen Z employees admit that they are consciously hindering the introduction of AI in their companies, including refusing to use it, misusing tools, or even deliberately reducing efficiency.
There are various means of destruction. Some people deliberately enter company secrets into public AI tools to trigger security alerts, and some refuse to use approved software.In more extreme cases, some people manipulate performance evaluations and even deliberately submit low-quality work generated by AI to prove to management that "AI is simply not good."
Luddism aimed to resist unemployment and worsening working conditions caused by technological changes｜Source: Wikipedia
This situation is just like the Luddite movement in which workers took the lead in smashing textile machines after the emergence of textile machines in the Industrial Revolution.
Even if it puts themselves at a very high risk of expulsion, they will adopt this kind of passive resistance to fight against their inner fears.
03
Be careful: the more you use it, the less likely you will believe it
Faced with anxiety and fear, many young people have become wary of AI.
This sense of vigilance is reflected in a series of specific behaviors. The most intuitive change is that they begin to set boundaries for AI. They already know very well what AI can do, and they also know better what things cannot be left to it.
The first boundary is drawn in interpersonal communication.
For example, the New York Times interviewed Abigail Hackett, a 27-year-old tourism employee. She often uses AI to handle complex copywriting at work, saving a lot of time. But in her private life, she never uses AI to draft any private information. The reason is simple: she doesn't want her "social muscles to atrophy."
This is a "vigilant choice" that many users will make. AI can enter the work process, but it should not enter social relationships.
Even on those companion AIs that consume a lot of time, young people's attitudes have changed.
In the past two years, role-playing chat tools like Character.AI have become rapidly popular among young people. They can simulate friends, lovers or even fictional characters, providing a kind of online "companion" at any time. At the same time, the controversy surrounding such products is also expanding, including incidents of teenage addiction, emotional dependence, and even individual suicide and self-harm.
Many public opinions have therefore come to the conclusion that AI is weakening the social abilities of minors.
However, long-term observations by researchers at the University of Sydney overturned this assumption. They found that the vast majority of young people are very clear-headed and do not regard AI as a real human substitute. They are more inclined to regard these chats as a "game" or pastime.
For example, 15-year-old interviewee Quentin was once a heavy user of Character.AI, but he made it clear that it was just a game, essentially a bunch of 1s and 0s.
Once there are new changes in real life, such as making new friends at school or starting a relationship, the time they spend on chatbots will drop off a cliff. At best, chatbots are just electronic pickles when they are boring. As soon as real life starts to work, AI will be simply abandoned at any time.
The boundaries of life have been established, and young people no longer believe in AI at key decision-making nodes in life.
According to a 2024 survey by consulting firm Ruffalo Noel Levitz, one-third of high school students are using AI to plan college applications. They will let AI pull out a long list of schools and organize tuition fees, scholarships, and admission rates into tables for quick preliminary screening, but they will not let AI make judgments.
This kind of vigilance is established through repeated pitfalls.
According to a report by the New York Times, Brandon, a high school senior in Wisconsin, developed the habit of strictly checking AI information because a large model had conclusively recommended several non-existent college scholarships to him, causing him to spend a lot of time in vain to verify them.
Tanay, a student in San Francisco, saw through the value of false emotions given by AI. His AI told him, "You can 100% get into Princeton." He immediately realized that the AI was catering to him with over-certainty and was of no help to his school choice decision.
It takes an average of 376 students in public high schools in the United States to be assigned a counselor, so a large number of students will use AI to assist in their applications | Source: "The New York Times"
Who hasn’t been “laughed” by AI when using it? Once similar moments occur several times, it will be difficult to return to the original trust.
At this point, if we look back at the survey data from Gallup and Pew, the "AI Paradox" can be explained.
More than half of young people use AI every day. It is a survival instinct forced by the employment system and the pressure to enter higher education. Their trust in AI has plummeted from 27% to 18% because the more they use it, the more likely they are to encounter problems and thus see the boundaries of technology.
Anxiety, fear, vigilance, and even abuse to some extent, these seemingly conflicting states exist simultaneously in young people’s attitudes towards AI.
Because in this inescapable technology cycle, Generation Z wants to understand.
A tool is a tool, and if you should squeeze out its value, squeeze it to your heart's content, but don't really treat it like a god offering it, let alone let it make decisions for you.
Rather than saying they don’t trust technology, it’s better to say they realized earlier,The benefits and costs of this technology may fall on you at the same time.