What happened
Anthropic published on June 12, 2026, the first wave of its Anthropic Public Record — a nationally representative online survey of 51,993 Americans conducted in November–December 2025 via YouGov, weighted to US Census benchmarks. Key findings: 64% of Americans fear AI-induced job loss (the top fear in every US state), followed by cognitive dependency (56%) and misinformation (52%); only 15% of Americans trust AI companies to make decisions about AI development and use; over 70% believe the government should regulate AI, with bipartisan support; and 48% ranked curing diseases as a top-three hope for AI. The survey found that "on most questions, AI did not heavily divide Americans along typical partisan, geographic, or educational lines" — concern was broad and largely consensus-based. Anthropic plans to repeat the survey regularly and expand it internationally, positioning it as a longitudinal tracker of public AI sentiment.
Why it matters
The 15% trust figure and the 70%+ pro-regulation majority are the clearest quantitative read yet on where American public opinion stands on AI accountability — directly relevant to communications strategy, regulatory positioning, and any executive testifying before Congress or speaking to media about AI governance.
Action needed
Brief your communications and public affairs teams on the trust gap (only 15% trust AI companies) and regulatory appetite (70%+) as the baseline for any external AI narrative or stakeholder engagement strategy in the US.