Americans are feeling increasingly negative towards big business, a trend that is not being helped by the emergence of Artificial Intelligence.
So says a new survey conducted jointly by Bentley University of Waltham, Massachusetts, and the Gallup polling company showing that while 65% of respondents last year said business in general was a positive force in the country, 61% now believe the same.
The survey also revealed a rising suspicion regarding the nexus between business and Artificial Intelligence, with only 27% of respondents saying they had any faith at all in businesses using the new technology responsibly, down from an equally low 31% recorded last year.
The skepticism regarding the marriage of business and AI was shared by respondents in every age category, with 79% of those in the 18- to 29-year-old category responding in the negative, and anywhere from 70% to 75% feeling the same in generational categories from 30 to 60 years of age and above.
An overwhelming 80% said they believed that business in general has “raised prices more than they needed to because they wanted to increase their profits,” while 74% said that when businesses are confronted with costs increase they should simply accept the prospect of lower profits.
Despite the sometimes skeptical views held by the respondents regarding the role and ethics of business, an overwhelming 75% were upbeat on the question of businesses trying to build more diverse workforces, saying that such workforces were likely to make more innovative products. A strong 71% also said they thought that businesses with diverse workforces are more profitable.
Attitudes toward government in general proved equally sobering in the survey, with only 47% saying they trusted their state governments to “act in the best interest of society,” while a historically low 26% thought the same of the federal government.
At the other end of the equation, an overwhelming 80% said they believed that charitable groups most likely act in the best interest of society, a figure that remained unchanged from last year’s survey.
October 9, 2026
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
