Stanford’s annual AI report finds a widening gap between AI insiders and everyone else

The 2026 AI Index from Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI documents a deepening disconnect between expert optimism and public anxiety. Gen Z anger about AI is rising fast. Employment in AI-exposed fields among younger workers is already declining. And the US has the lowest trust in its government to regulate AI of any country surveyed.

Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) released its annual AI Index Report on Monday, and its most striking finding is not about model performance or investment volumes, it is about the widening gulf between those building AI and those living with it.

Across nearly every dimension the 423-page report examines, expert opinion and public sentiment point in opposite directions.

“AI experts and the US public disagree on nearly everything about AI’s future,” the report concludes, with the notable exception that both groups believe AI will hurt elections and personal relationships ...