Public worried about AI, favors AI for cybersecurity

A Pew Research survey found about half of adults report that the growing use of artificial intelligence makes them more concerned than excited. The survey found concern has increased since 2022 and focuses mainly on job loss, reduced creativity, misinformation and increased surveillance rather than fictional doomsday scenarios. Respondents showed high awareness of driverless cars and facial recognition and lower awareness of AI use in welfare assessments, loan decisions and some care services.

Malwarebytes polled 1,500 adults across the United States, the United Kingdom, Austria, Germany and Switzerland and reported rising uncertainty about what can be trusted online. The Malwarebytes survey found increasing concern about scams, impersonation and AI‑generated deception. A 2025 study of AI in cybersecurity reported that the public recognizes technical benefits of AI‑driven defenses — speed, scale and improved accuracy — while expressing concerns about privacy, algorithmic bias and job displacement in security operations.

When asked where they would invest unlimited funds, respondents most often chose medicine and cybersecurity. The surveys found few people comfortable with defensive teams refusing to use AI if attackers continue to adopt the technology.

Security vendors have used machine learning for years to process large volumes of telemetry, detect anomalous behavior, prioritize alerts and identify threats faster than human teams can alone. Cybercriminals are using AI to produce more convincing phishing messages, clone voices, generate fake images and video, automate reconnaissance on targets and develop malware that seeks to evade traditional detection methods. Both attackers and defenders use AI‑assisted tools to discover software vulnerabilities, increasing pressure on vendors to patch flaws quickly.

The surveys and industry commentary include practical guidance for organizations and users that handle AI in security contexts. Experts recommend strict data hygiene: do not paste passwords, customer data or sensitive incident details into public AI tools. Treat AI outputs as unverified until cross‑checked; keep a human involved in decisions that affect access, containment, legal matters or public communications; and prefer enterprise or local AI deployments that provide logging, access controls and clear data‑retention rules. Security teams are advised to validate AI outputs against logs, source code or other primary evidence before acting on them.

According to Malwarebytes, ‘People aren’t scared of AI itself, but about who’s using it and for what purpose.’