A new Quinnipiac University poll finds that only 15% of Americans would be willing to work in a job where an AI program assigns tasks and sets schedules, while 80% say they would be unwilling. The finding lands at a time when AI use is rising in the workplace, but public trust in the technology remains low.
TL;DR
- 15% of Americans said they would be willing to work for an AI supervisor, while 80% said they would not.
- The survey covered 1,397 U.S. adults from March 19 to March 23, 2026, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.
- 70% think AI will reduce job opportunities, 30% of employed adults worry their own jobs could become obsolete, and 76% say AI-generated information is trustworthy hardly ever or only some of the time.
The most important detail in the Quinnipiac poll is not that some Americans would accept an AI boss, but that the idea remains firmly unpopular. The survey question was specific, respondents were asked whether they would be willing to have a job where their direct supervisor was an AI program that assigned tasks and set their schedule. On that measure, 15% said willing and 80% said unwilling.
The data also shows that openness to AI supervision is somewhat higher among younger adults, but still remains a minority position. Quinnipiac found that 18% of Gen Z respondents and 19% of millennials said they would be willing to work under such a system, compared with 12% of Gen X, 13% of baby boomers, and 7% of the silent generation. Among employed respondents, willingness was 11% for white-collar workers and 16% for blue-collar workers.
That matters because the same poll shows Americans are using AI more often, but not trusting it more. Quinnipiac said 51% have used AI for researching topics, 28% for writing, and 27% for school or work projects. Yet 76% said AI-generated information can be trusted hardly ever or only some of the time, while only 21% said it can be trusted most or almost all of the time. Quinnipiac polling analyst Chetan Jaiswal described the gap between usage and trust as striking.
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Workplace sentiment in the poll is even more revealing. Seventy percent of Americans said advances in AI are likely to reduce the number of job opportunities for people, up from 56% in April 2025. Among employed adults, 30% said they were very or somewhat concerned AI could make their own jobs obsolete, up from 21% a year earlier. Quinnipiac assistant professor Tamilla Triantoro noted that younger Americans show the highest familiarity with AI tools, but are also the least optimistic about the labor market.
The broader reading of the poll is that Americans are not warming to AI authority nearly as fast as companies are rolling out AI systems into work. Companies are increasingly introducing AI systems into workflows, including tools for recruitment, workflow automation, and performance insights.
The verified takeaway is clear. A measurable minority of Americans is open to AI supervision, but the public mood around AI at work is still dominated by distrust, job anxiety, and resistance to handing managerial control to software.
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