The world likes AI. America is one of three countries that doesn't
A 37-country Gallup poll says global sentiment on AI is positive almost everywhere — and the exceptions draw their own map.
In 34 of 37 countries surveyed, positive feelings about AI outweigh negative ones, but the United States is one of only three exceptions, according to a Gallup and Microsoft study reported by 404 Media. The other two are Egypt and Palestine. The study, which will ultimately cover 140 countries, found a median 81% of people are aware of AI tools and a median 43% use them daily. The Times' write-up of the poll adds that more than 90% of people in China and more than 66% in Nigeria say AI will improve daily life.
The interesting finding is the pattern, not the ranking. Gallup calls it the "Paradox of the Worried West": wealthy countries with heavy daily AI use — the Netherlands, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, Ireland and Malta — cluster at the top of the worry table, while the most bullish responses come from countries still climbing the adoption ladder. Gallup senior scientist Pablo Diego-Rosell says trust and adoption clearly travel together, but the data cannot yet say which causes which. It would be strange if the American mood were unaffected by a year in which evangelists and lab insiders have repeatedly warned that AI could, literally, end the world.
It fits the week. This morning we published America has turned against data centers — Pew finds 54% now call them bad for the environment, and we looked at the global trust gap before in The world trusts China to regulate AI more than it trusts America.
OpenAI has hired Patreon's co-founder — and it is pointing him at the creator economy. Sam Yam, who co-founded Patreon 13 years ago, announced he is joining OpenAI to lead Creator Product, bringing former Patreon product head Drew Rowny and engineering head Shannon Ma with him, The Verge reports. Yam told followers to watch OpenAI DevDay on September 29 and teased "early access to a new set of tools" for creators. Patreon wrote the blueprint for the creator-subscription economy, and OpenAI hiring its founding team is the clearest sign yet that creator monetization is the next surface it wants to own — landing on a Patreon that just cut 20% of its staff and is rebuilding its product.
OpenAI and Grab will spend two years teaching 30,000 gig workers and merchants to actually use AI. The program, called GO Forward with AI, starts in Singapore and expands to Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines this year, then Malaysia and Vietnam in 2027, with half-day workshops built on the OpenAI Academy curriculum. The demand is already there: half of Grab's Singapore driver- and delivery-partners told the company they use AI tools, and 87% of the rest are open to trying. This is the practical, unglamorous side of OpenAI's international push — not a new frontier model, but muscle memory for the superapp economy.
What to watch: DevDay on September 29 — the creator tools Yam hinted at should surface there.
Is the West's AI worry a rational read of the risks, or a messaging problem the industry built itself? Tell us in the comments.
Sources: 404 Media · Gallup · New York Times (via Techmeme) · The Verge · Sam Yam on X · OpenAI · Grab
