Cream Ridge, NJ, resident and health enthusiast Edward Granaghan enjoys traveling throughout the world. As both a traveler and fitness devotee, the Cream Ridge, NJ, resident has seen how artificial intelligence (AI) has impacted virtually every aspect of American life. New Jersey is one of several growing hubs for AI development in America, particularly in Princeton, Jersey City, and Somerset. Edward Granaghan is highly interested in the continued and varied utilization of AI in everyday life.
Experts largely agree that the first official use of AI occurred at the Dartmouth Conference in 1956. Developed by Allen Newell, Herbert A. Simon, and Cliff Shaw, Logic Theorist was a computer program that emulated human problem-solving skills. Interest in and funding for AI rose and fell over the following decades, but close to a century later, AI has become more prominent in the United States and around the world than ever before.
AI impacts almost every major industry. A 2025 survey by McKinsey and Company found that nearly every company in the US has either started using AI or expressed curiosity about integrating AI with existing processes. Many businesses have introduced AI agents to interact with customers, though the majority of companies remain in the earliest stages of AI scaling and have yet to achieve enterprise-level value.
While the continued advancement of AI in business may have widespread economic ramifications for the country, everyday Americans express a range of opinions about AI technology and its utilization. According to a 2025 Pew Research Center survey, 53 percent of the nation believe that AI will negatively impact people’s capacity for creative thinking, while just 16 percent think that AI can improve creativity. Americans are even more pessimistic when it comes to the concept of AI helping people form meaningful relationships with others, as 50 percent said this would not be possible, with only 5 percent supporting the idea. Perhaps more interestingly, 40 percent of US adults said that AI utilization would not help professionals or average citizens make difficult decisions, and 38 percent doubted AI’s ability to solve problems more efficiently than people.
As more of the nation becomes aware of what AI is and how it is used in so many aspects of life, national opinion has diminished. In 2021, 37 percent of Americans were more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life, compared to 18 percent who felt the opposite. By 2025, concern regarding AI utilization had grown to 50 percent, while those excited by the prospect of expanded AI usage had shrunk to 10 percent.
Data suggests that Americans often feel wrongly deceived by AI content. Approximately 76 percent of Americans stated that it is extremely or very important that they can tell if products, services, and other information and materials come from an AI source. Another 17 percent said they felt it was somewhat important to know about AI usage. That said, only 12 percent felt extremely confident that they could recognize AI utilization, with 53 percent saying they were not very or not at all confident about their ability to recognize AI.
Despite the average American’s cautious opinions regarding AI, usage has become quite common. According to a separate Pew Research study, as many as 55 percent of Americans said that they regularly use or interact with AI technology. Meanwhile, Gallup News confirms that many Americans use AI on a daily basis without realizing it.
