Corporate leaders and investors are enthusiastic about artificial intelligence. The American public is more cautious. That gap is the central finding of a survey by JUST Capital, a nonprofit that tracks corporate behavior, which polled three groups: the general public, business leaders and investors. CNBC reported on the results on December 9, 2025.
Hope paired with specific fears
According to the report, a majority of the public believes AI will eventually have a positive effect on society. Alongside that, respondents voiced concrete concerns: that the technology could put children at risk, that deepfakes and fabricated video could erase the line between truth and falsehood, and that ordinary people could lose out in an information environment they cannot verify.
Business leaders approach the subject from a different direction. Their primary interest, the survey found, is how much AI will raise their company’s productivity and what return their investment will produce. The question for them is where the immediate payoff lies.
Common ground on workers
One point unites the three groups. Majorities in each said the most important investment during this period should be in the American worker: training, new skills and the ability to work alongside AI systems. Walmart is often cited as an example of a large employer that has made sustained investment in employee training part of its strategy.
Younger workers, and Gen Z in particular, express growing anxiety that AI could take their jobs within a few years. The research also indicates that people who use AI tools themselves tend to report lower levels of concern, which is why many commentators argue that hands-on familiarity is the most effective answer to fear of the technology.
Regulation and trust
Regulation has become a live debate in the United States. Most respondents across the groups, from large companies to the general public, want government to play some role. The unresolved question is how to design rules that prevent harm without suppressing innovation, a balance that sits at the center of US policy discussions.
The survey also found that the public continues to trust business leaders to develop AI responsibly. That trust may help explain why the stakeholder model of corporate governance, in which a company is expected to deliver for employees and customers as well as shareholders, retains support even as the technology raises new questions about who benefits.
The overall picture is of a technology viewed as both an opportunity and a test. Business sees AI as the next stage of growth. The public wants that door opened, but with safeguards in place.
