A new YouGov survey explores how Americans are using AI and what tasks they would be willing to let AI take on at work, with their children, and in other areas of life including transportation, personal finance, and elsewhere in their personal lives.

13% of Americans — including 23% of adults under 30 — say they have confided in an AI chatbot about a problem or secret they had not told anyone else. 10% say they have an ongoing personal friendship with an AI chatbot, including 18% of adults under 30.

11% of Americans say they have submitted work that AI produced as their own, including 21% of adults under 30. 9% of Americans — including 18% of adults under 30 — say they have hidden how much they use AI from a partner or family member.

Among Americans who use AI tools multiple times per day, 28% say they’ve hidden their AI use from a partner or family member, as do 18% of people who use these tools once per day.

About two-thirds (65%) of Americans say they definitely would not let AI fly a passenger plane they were on without any human review or oversight. Majorities say they definitely would not let AI do the following without human review or oversight: Drive them and their family on the highway (57%), choose military targets and fire weapons (57%), represent them in a legal dispute (55%), and decide whether they are hired for a job they applied for (55%).

The tasks asked about on the poll that Americans are most likely to say they definitely or probably would be willing to let AI do without human oversight are negotiating the price of a major purchase on their behalf (28%), handling their phone calls and messages and replying for them (28%), and letting AI decide whether they are approved for a mortgage or loan without human oversight (25%).

Among people who use AI tools at least daily, 52% say they definitely or probably would let AI negotiate the price of a major purchase on their behalf without human oversight. Nearly half (47%) say they definitely or probably would let AI choose which news or information they see each day. Among people who never use AI tools, only 8% would trust AI to negotiate for them and only 4% would let AI choose which news and information they see each day.

Majorities of parents or guardians of children under 18 say they would definitely not be willing to let AI be their child’s main friend or companion (69%), watch or supervise their child when they are not able to (60%), or decide what medical treatment their child receives (58%).

Nearly half (46%) of parents say they definitely or probably would be willing to let AI monitor their child’s phone and messages and alert them to problems. 40% say they definitely or probably would be willing to let AI teach or tutor their child in core school subjects, and 39% say the same about letting AI grade their child’s schoolwork and tests.

Among parents who use AI tools at least daily, 71% say they would definitely or probably be willing to let AI monitor their child’s phone and messages and alert them to problems. 69% say they would be willing to let AI teach or tutor their child in core school subjects. Among parents who never use AI tools, only 17% would definitely or probably be willing to let AI monitor their child’s phone and only 14% would be willing to let AI teach or tutor their child in core school subjects.

Among American workers, 61% say they definitely would not be willing to let AI decide whether they or a coworker is laid off. About half (49%) say they definitely would not be willing to let AI decide whether they got a raise or promotion. Many also say they definitely would not be willing to let AI monitor their productivity and report to their manager (43%), evaluate their job performance (42%), or assign their daily tasks and set their schedule (31%).

Among American workers who use AI tools at least daily, 69% say they would definitely or probably be willing to let AI assign their daily tasks and set their schedule. 59% would definitely or probably be willing to let AI evaluate their job performance and 55% would let AI monitor their productivity and report to their manager. Among workers who never use AI tools, far fewer say they would definitely or probably be willing to let AI assign their daily tasks and set their schedule (14%), evaluate their job performance (8%), or monitor their productivity and report to their manager (18%).

49% of American workers say AI definitely could not do their job as well as they can. 21% think it probably could not do it as well, 15% say it probably could do it as well, and 8% say it definitely could do it as well.

What about most other people’s jobs? 23% of American workers say AI definitely could not do other people’s jobs as well. 33% think it probably could not, 20% think it probably could do it as well, and 9% think it definitely could do it as well.

Related:

See the results for this YouGov survey

— Carl Bialik and Taylor Orth contributed to this article

Methodology: This article includes results from an online survey conducted on June 26 - 29, 2026 among 1,126 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 33% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is 3.8 percentage points.

Image: Getty (Oscar Wong)

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