Investor, Corporate, and Public Sentiment on AI

Corporate leaders and investors remain overwhelmingly optimistic about the upside of artificial intelligence—expecting it to drive higher worker productivity, boost profitability, and deliver stronger shareholder returns.

The broader public, however, is far more skeptical.

A recent study by the nonprofit research firm Just Capital surveyed institutional investors, corporate executives and U.S. adults between September 27 and November 14. The findings reveal a pronounced gap between the confidence of business decision‑makers and the sentiment of everyday Americans.

More than 93% of corporate leaders and 80% of investors say they believe AI will have a net positive impact on society within the next five years. Only 58% of the general public shares that view.

“There are clear areas of agreement and disagreement,” said Martin Whittaker, CEO of Just Capital. “Overall, the narrative around AI’s societal impact remains positive, but the gaps in perception are widening.”

The survey arrives three years after OpenAI’s launch of ChatGPT ignited the generative‑AI boom. Since then, venture capital has poured billions into AI‑centric startups, cloud providers have raced to expand GPU capacity, and enterprises have begun embedding large‑language models into core products.

Industry analysts now project AI‑related spend to reach into the trillions of dollars by 2030, driven by data‑center expansion, specialized hardware, and software‑as‑a‑service platforms. While the financial incentives are clear, the study underscores persistent concerns around privacy, security, and workforce displacement.

When respondents were asked about AI’s effect on the workplace, the divide was stark. Only 47% of the public believed AI would boost worker productivity, versus 94% of investors and 98% of corporate leaders.

Nearly half of the public expects AI to replace jobs outright, while just 20% of corporate executives agree. Conversely, 64% of executives think AI will help employees become more productive in their current roles, compared with only 23% of the public.

Just Capital interpreted these results as “widespread public concern that companies’ accelerating AI adoption will translate into swift, direct job cuts.”

All three respondent groups expressed worries about safety and security risks, but the priorities differ. Business leaders and investors are most alarmed by the potential for disinformation and malicious exploitation of AI tools. The public adds concerns about loss of human control over algorithms and the environmental footprint of large AI models.

More than 40% of corporate leaders admitted that environmental considerations are not yet integrated into their AI deployment strategies. In contrast, roughly 60% of investors and half of the public argue that companies should allocate more than 5% of total AI spend to safety and risk mitigation. Corporate executives, however, largely favor a cap of up to 5% for safety‑related expenditures.

From a business‑technology perspective, the data suggests a market opportunity for firms that can address these gaps. Companies building robust model‑governance frameworks, transparent audit trails, and energy‑efficient inference hardware stand to differentiate themselves in a crowded AI landscape.

Regulators are also stepping onto the stage. The European Union’s AI Act and emerging U.S. legislative proposals could impose compliance costs that reshape AI budgeting priorities. Early adopters that embed compliance into their product roadmaps may gain a competitive advantage, especially as investors increasingly demand ESG‑aligned AI practices.

Just Capital plans to continue monitoring sentiment on AI adoption on a quarterly basis, providing a pulse check for both market participants and policymakers.