Illustration by Lexi Forman, Cartoonist.
Americans have a new top fear to add to the list: artificial intelligence. For the first time, concerns about AI’s influence on politics and the economy have both ranked among the nation’s top 10 fears, according to Chapman University’s 2026 Survey of America Fears.
Now in its 12th year, the annual survey examines Americans’ greatest fears and how those concerns change over time. This year’s findings revealed that fear of AI harming the political process ranked third at 51.9%, while fear of AI negatively affecting the economy ranked seventh at 49.7%.
The results come as artificial intelligence continues to raise questions about its role in employment, government and everyday life.
Seth Benzell, an assistant professor of business and economics at Chapman who contributed to the survey’s research, said Americans’ concerns about AI reflect both the opportunities and uncertainties surrounding the technology.
“Our results show that Americans both hope for and are fearful of many AI technologies,” Benzell said. “That makes sense — it is the most important new technology of our generation.”
Benzell said he was particularly interested in the finding that Americans were more concerned about AI’s potential impact on politics than its economic consequences.
“As an economist, I would say AI is likely to be good for the economy, but may concentrate wealth and power,” Benzell said.
The survey also revealed differences in how Americans perceive AI depending on their education levels. According to Benzell, some research suggests that more educated individuals are particularly concerned about AI’s political effects, while those without a college education tend to worry more about its potential impact on employment and their personal financial circumstances.
Despite these concerns, Benzell said AI could have significant benefits for economic growth, though those benefits may not be distributed equally.
“On balance they should be tremendously positive for economic growth, and help us solve important social crises like the budget deficit,” Benzell said. “However, it is likely to increase wealth inequality and have large disruptions for labor markets.”
While AI-related fears were among the newest additions to the survey’s top 10, concerns about government corruption continued to dominate the results.
For the 11th consecutive survey, corrupt government officials ranked as America's greatest fear, with 61.1% of respondents reporting being afraid or very afraid. This represents a decline from 69.1% in the 2025 survey, despite the issue retaining its first-place ranking.
Ashley Kranjac, an associate professor of sociology and director of Chapman’s Earl Babbie Research Center, said the continued concern about government corruption reflects broader questions surrounding fairness and political representation.
“When people think about corruption, they may picture someone with money or connections getting special treatment,” Kranjac said. “It comes back to a pretty familiar concern: Does everyone get a fair say, or do some people get listened to more than others?”
Another major finding was the rise in the ranking of Americans’ fear that the United States is becoming involved in another world war. The concern moved from sixth place in 2025 to second place in 2026, with 58% of respondents expressing fear, up from 55.3% the previous year.
However, Kranjac emphasized that changes in rankings do not necessarily indicate that Americans are becoming more fearful overall.
“Something worth keeping in mind is that many fears were actually lower than last year,” Kranjac said. “A fear can move up the list because other fears have dropped, so the rankings don’t tell the whole story.”
Kranjac pointed to fear of terrorist attacks as an example. Although the concern entered the top 10 this year, the percentage of Americans reporting that fear actually decreased compared to the previous year.
The survey also examined Americans’ attitudes toward emerging technologies beyond their potential political and economic consequences.
According to the 2026 findings, respondents expressed more optimism than fear toward technologies such as abundant clean energy, life-extension medicine and robots working alongside humans in manufacturing. However, technologies involving AI romantic partners, continuous employee monitoring and genetic engineering of human babies generated greater concern.
Benzell said Americans were particularly pessimistic about AI romantic partners, with respondents more than 10 times as likely to fear the technology than to express hope about it. By contrast, AI personal digital assistants generated more optimism than fear.
Kranjac said these differences demonstrate how Americans’ perceptions of technology depend heavily on its potential applications.
“People also expressed hope about technology, especially around things like clean energy and medicine that could help us live longer,” Kranjac said. “It seems that our reaction to technology really depends on what we think that it will mean for our lives.”
For college students preparing to enter a workforce increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence, Benzell emphasized the importance of continuously adapting to technological changes.
He encouraged students to become lifelong learners and continue developing their skills as technology evolves.
The 2026 survey was conducted online from April 7 to April 21 by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, surveying 1,221 American adults through its probability-based AmeriSpeak panel. The findings have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.79 percentage points.
As concerns about politics, economic uncertainty and artificial intelligence continue to shape public opinion, the survey highlights how Americans are responding to both longstanding national issues and the emergence of new technologies.