Understanding Anti-AI Public Opinion
Understanding Anti-AI Public Opinion
理解反人工智能的公众舆论
Artificial Intelligence Understanding Anti-AI Public Opinion People can accept tradeoffs when they see value — but if they don’t, what happens? Stephanie Kirmer Aug 19, 2026 9 min read
人工智能：理解反人工智能的公众舆论。当人们看到价值时，他们可以接受权衡——但如果他们看不到价值，会发生什么？作者：Stephanie Kirmer，2026年8月19日，阅读时长9分钟。
Public Opinion There has been a lot of public discourse in the last few weeks focusing on the issue of public perception of AI, and why it’s so negative. People polled indicate they hate AI more than ICE, and younger generations seem to have stronger negative opinions, even as many of them use the technology day to day.
公众舆论：过去几周，大量的公众讨论集中在公众对人工智能的看法以及为何这种看法如此负面这一问题上。民意调查显示，人们对人工智能的厌恶程度甚至超过了美国移民及海关执法局（ICE），而年轻一代似乎持有更强烈的负面看法，尽管他们中的许多人每天都在使用这项技术。
Many journalists and politicians are looking for a single factor to explain this pattern. Is it the power bills? AI slop taking over our social media feeds? The irritating noise data centers make? Chatbots confidently asserting stupid things? AI executive billionaires jetting around the world while grocery prices rise? City governments giving away local resources to corporate interests without considering or consulting their constituents? Attempting to simplify people’s complex opinions in this way is counterproductive.
许多记者和政客都在寻找单一因素来解释这种模式。是电费账单吗？是充斥社交媒体的AI垃圾内容吗？是数据中心发出的恼人噪音吗？是聊天机器人自信地胡言乱语吗？是AI行业亿万富翁在全球各地飞来飞去，而食品价格却在上涨吗？是市政府在不考虑或咨询选民的情况下，将当地资源拱手让给企业利益吗？试图以这种方式简化人们复杂的观点是适得其反的。
The question is timely because the tech industry is attempting to build data centers across the country to increase AI compute capacity, and people are protesting, loudly. My argument is that negative opinions are largely driven by negative personal experiences with AI. That probably wouldn’t be sufficient by itself to inspire a protest movement, but combine that with practical, material costs AI is inflicting on communities and society, and the lack of practical value it’s generating, and it’s easy to see why these protests have developed. Why should we allow major infrastructure into our community to power a technology we think is harmful?
这个问题之所以及时，是因为科技行业正试图在全国范围内建设数据中心以增加人工智能计算能力，而人们正在大声抗议。我的观点是，负面舆论在很大程度上是由个人对人工智能的负面体验所驱动的。单凭这一点可能不足以引发抗议运动，但如果将其与人工智能给社区和社会带来的实际物质成本，以及它所产生的缺乏实际价值结合起来，就不难理解为什么会出现这些抗议活动了。我们为什么要允许大型基础设施进入我们的社区，去为一项我们认为有害的技术供电呢？
The truth is, and I think we all intuitively know this, there’s not just one thing driving public opinion. If you pile up all the information you’re receiving, from your own lived experience, friends, family, news sources, social media, etc, these are the raw materials that combine, along with your upbringing, religious training, education, etc, to make your perspective. We all work this way when developing our opinions and beliefs. What you personally witness and experience has a major impact on where you end up.
事实是——我想我们凭直觉都知道这一点——驱动公众舆论的不仅仅是一件事。如果你把你接收到的所有信息堆叠起来，从你自己的生活经历、朋友、家人、新闻来源、社交媒体等，这些原材料与你的成长背景、宗教熏陶、教育等结合在一起，就形成了你的观点。我们在形成自己的观点和信仰时都是这样运作的。你亲眼所见和亲身经历的事情，对你最终形成的看法有着重大影响。
Experiencing AI People are gradually accumulating personal experiences and information about AI, and they’re finding that the overall impact feels more harmful than beneficial. People have lots of opportunities to interact with AI, there’s no shortage of practical experience with it, but the results are just not positive a lot of the time. They may directly use it, in the form of chatbots for example, or they may witness its effects, such as seeing AI slop in social media feeds.
体验人工智能：人们正在逐渐积累关于人工智能的个人经验和信息，他们发现其整体影响似乎弊大于利。人们有很多机会与人工智能互动，并不缺乏实践经验，但很多时候结果并不积极。他们可能会直接使用它（例如以聊天机器人的形式），或者他们可能会目睹其影响，例如在社交媒体信息流中看到AI生成的垃圾内容。
In the workplace, a very dominant narrative is “AI will take your job”. White collar workers in particular are experiencing layoffs that bosses attribute to AI. (Many of these layoffs are actually attempts by corporations to bump stock prices rather than the result of AI successes. However, the corporations blame AI so that’s the narrative that gets created.) People are also being told by management, “If you don’t use AI enough, you’ll get fired”, but nearly simultaneously “If you use AI too much, the business will go bankrupt”. People feel how hypocritical and bizarre this is.
在职场中，一个非常主流的叙事是“人工智能会抢走你的工作”。白领员工尤其正在经历老板归咎于人工智能的裁员。（许多裁员实际上是企业为了推高股价，而非人工智能成功应用的结果。然而，企业将责任推给人工智能，于是就形成了这种叙事。）管理层还告诉员工：“如果你不充分使用人工智能，你就会被解雇”，但几乎同时又说“如果你过度使用人工智能，公司就会破产”。人们感受到了这种做法是多么虚伪和荒谬。
The negative AI experiences and negative feelings about billionaires have a strong connection. If you encounter AI and have a bad experience, you’re likely to wonder “why did this happen to me?” and may begin to inquire about the AI industry. Asking who benefits from AI being inserted into your workplace, or your doctor’s office, or a data center being built in your neighborhood, can lead to the doorstep of billionaires who are pushing AI investment and adoption across the economy, and who seem to have very little awareness or understanding of (or interest in) the lived experience of average people.
负面的人工智能体验与对亿万富翁的负面情绪之间有着强烈的联系。如果你接触人工智能并有了糟糕的体验，你很可能会问“为什么这发生在我身上？”，并可能开始调查人工智能行业。询问谁从人工智能进入你的工作场所、医生办公室或在你社区建设的数据中心中受益，最终会指向那些在整个经济中推动人工智能投资和采用的亿万富翁，他们似乎对普通人的生活经历知之甚少、缺乏理解（或毫无兴趣）。