Pew found that 55% of Americans under 30 are now more concerned than excited about AI, the first majority since it began asking in 2021, with 73% expecting fewer jobs. A European Commission survey found displacement fears highest among younger, lower-income and less-educated workers.

Americans under 30 have changed their minds about AI. For the first time since Pew began asking in 2021, a majority of them, 55%, say they are more concerned than excited about it.

The job numbers moved faster. Almost three-quarters of that group, 73%, expect AI to mean fewer jobs over the next two decades, up from 61% two years ago, and only 5% of Americans think it will create more.

The reversal is what makes this notable. This was the age group most taken with the technology, and it is now among the most sceptical, while overall concern has climbed from 37% in 2021 to 52%.

Europe is not a calmer picture, it is the same one. A European Commission survey of 18 member states this spring found fear of AI-driven job displacement highest among younger, lower-income and less-educated respondents.

The same people are the heaviest users. Students reported the largest time savings of any group at nine hours a month, in a cohort where half already use chatbots for personal conversations.

Adoption across the bloc is broad but shallow at work. Around 54% of EU respondents use AI in some form, while roughly 27% of workers use it for their job.

The hiring evidence is starting to catch up with the sentiment. A Harvard study found AI-native startups hire fewer juniors and more experienced staff, which is the mechanism people in their twenties are worried about.

Pew’s data hints at the same asymmetry. Workers already established in their careers have grown more positive about AI, which fits the argument that it rewards experience rather than replacing it.

That leaves the entry route as the pressure point. The internship and the junior role are how careers have historically started, and both are being squeezed first.

Causation remains genuinely unsettled. The AI boom arrived alongside a weaker labour market, and at least one study argues weak hiring is doing more damage to young workers than AI is.

What is settled is the sentiment, and it is now a business problem. The people companies most want to hire into AI-heavy roles are the ones who most expect the technology to remove those roles.

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