AI Politics Are Getting Ugly; Nonprofits Can't Sit It Out (news)

We have other things to discuss, George.

I wanted to lean us into some of the hot button debates right now, because as much as we talk about AI in this venue, George, we haven't really talked very much about the politics of it.

And I think AI is increasingly becoming very politically salient and a little bit of a lightning rod issue.

And I think nonprofits... are increasingly finding themselves caught between two extremes on this issue.

So I wrote about it, George.

I called it the politics of AI are getting contentious, how nonprofits can separate fact from friction and build trust.

George, I don't know if you spend a lot of time on TikTok.

I do.

And it's a little bit bewildering, George, because there are any AI video, hundreds of comments.

AI is evil.

I can't believe you used AI.

You're a terrible person.

You're a stooge of capitalism.

Like the anti-AI vibes on this app.

are out of control.

And I don't say that negatively.

I'm just saying they're quite extreme.

So I started thinking, OK, what is driving this and what do the contours of this debate mean for nonprofits? And George, when you actually look at the polling, the public mood around AI is cooling substantially.

Pew Research finds that four in 10 Americans expect AI to hurt society over the next several decades versus just 16% who expect it to help.

So that's a two to one differential there.

George, Younger generations as well are about 10 points more skeptical.

Under 30-year-olds are 10 points more skeptical and view AI as net harmful, opposed to their older compatriots, if you will.

So there is George A., kind of cooling happening around the American electorate against AI broadly.

And it is particularly magnified in the under 30 crowd.

So my anecdotal experience on TikTok is validated by real polling data from Pew Research.