Half of US adults now use AI—but views on how to regulate the technology vary widely by state, new research shows

Half of U.S. adults report utilizing not less than one “major AI tool,” however public attitudes about synthetic intelligence regulation stay divided nationwide, in accordance to a new survey.

The 50-state report, printed as half of the multi-university Civic Health and Institutions Project (CHIP50), discovered that views about how and whether or not to rein in AI instruments do not comply with typical red-blue state divides. Missouri and Washington, for instance, expressed the strongest views a few lack of regulatory oversight, whereas New York and Tennessee had been most frightened about authorities overreach.

But issues about office disruption are practically common. Majorities in all 50 states count on AI to impression their jobs inside 5 years, particularly in tech-heavy and Sun Belt states reminiscent of California, Massachusetts, Texas and Georgia. Meanwhile, areas like the Corn Belt and Rust Belt anticipate much less instant disruption.

John Wihbey, an affiliate professor of media innovation and technology at Northeastern University and co-author of the examine, says the findings present some perception into the public’s view of a technology that has already grow to be half of many Americans’ every day life.

“At a time when state-level regulation for AI and public opinion is central to the national debate, this is perhaps the first look at how the states compare on usage, preferences and regulation,” Wihbey says.

Wihbey; Ata Uslu, a network science doctoral scholar; David Lazer, a college distinguished professor of political science and laptop sciences; Mauricio Santillana, a professor of physics and electrical and laptop engineering; and Hong Qu, a community science doctoral scholar, all collaborated on the examine.

The researchers used knowledge from a nationally consultant on-line survey of practically 21,000 respondents, the knowledge of which was collected from April 10 to June 5. The examine honed in on how the common public is “encountering AI in daily life,” in addition to their attitudes towards the rising applied sciences.

“It really stood out to us that, in every single state, people expect AI to impact their jobs,” Uslu says. “And that expectation is showing up in state legislatures too. The federal government can and should treat these state-level bills and citizens’ perceptions as a kind of policy lab: a way to leverage American federalism to ensure safe deployment of AI while also staying globally competitive in the AI race.”

The findings additionally level to deep demographic gaps because it pertains to AI use. Increasingly, AI adoption is led by youthful, higher-income adults with school educations, with older, rural and lower-income adults lagging behind.

The examine discovered that amongst AI instruments, ChatGPT stands out, with 65% of Americans recognizing the title and 37% reporting they’ve used it. Gemini was subsequent at 26%, then Microsoft Copilot at 18%. Notably, precise utilization charges lag far behind title recognition—65% of respondents acknowledge ChatGPT, for instance, however solely about half report utilizing it.

But frequent on a regular basis use stays concentrated amongst a small slice of customers, and consciousness of AI persistently outpaces precise use throughout all platforms, the examine says.

The query over how to regulate AI is in the end a federalism coverage debate, Wihbey says—a battle taking part in out in actual time over who will get to form and management the technology. He factors out that the Trump administration has pushed for a top-down regulatory strategy, which he notes is “a little out of step” with conservatives’ broader skepticism of federal regulatory energy.

“The White House would say the big questions are unbridled innovation, which would allow for AI dominance over adversaries to ensure national security and prosperity, and this notion of ‘woke’ AI,” Wihbey says.

A proposed moratorium on states’ capacity to regulate AI was included as a provision as half of President Donald Trump’s sweeping Big Beautiful Bill earlier than the Senate voted the measure down 99–1. The administration additionally not too long ago unveiled an AI Action Plan, which identifies over 60 federal coverage actions designed to bolster innovation in AI tech.

In the wake of the federal moratorium’s defeat, state regulators have begun proposing their very own frameworks. States like California and Michigan have launched payments that may improve transparency necessities, strengthen whistleblower protections and require third-party auditing.

Wihbey notes there’ve been tons of of payments into account throughout the nation.

“Many of these bills want to set up a commission to study the impact of AI at the state level, and many address issues of bias, and the use of AI tools for hiring, health screening or other areas where bias and functional discrimination could be a result,” Wihbey says.

“There’s also some real questions about deepfakes, which is a huge issue—especially in the political arena.”

“This isn’t abstract, and it’s no longer just about political campaigns or celebrities,” Uslu says. “With Elon Musk’s recent promotion of Grok’s new Imagine feature for example, anyone can now turn a photo into a video that follows their prompts.”

Uslu continues, “On their phone, in under a minute, for free. And this is just the beginning. When these kinds of tools become widely accessible, we need to know how prepared and aware the public is. That’s what this kind of research helps us measure.”