Why China is far more optimistic about AI than the US
Two countries, two AI publics. A Bloomberg weekend essay from Grace Shao puts hard numbers on the divide shaping everything from product strategy to regulation — and the gap isn't about who uses AI more.
Chinese citizens are dramatically more optimistic about AI than Americans, and the difference comes down to who expects to benefit, not who sees more risk. In Stanford's AI Index, 84 percent of Chinese respondents said they're excited by AI — the highest share of any country surveyed — while in the US the figure is just 38 percent. Trust data tells the same story: 72 percent of Chinese trust AI, versus 32 percent of Americans, according to polling cited by Axios. Bloomberg's analysis argues the split isn't because Chinese citizens see fewer dangers or use AI less; it's because the two publics disagree on whether AI's gains will reach ordinary people, and whether anyone is keeping the technology in check.
The essay opens on a vivid contrast: Eric Schmidt was booed at the University of Arizona's commencement in May for extolling AI's "huge benefits," while Chinese state media celebrated how enthusiastically students were embracing AI in the classroom. In China, AI reads as a practical tool woven into daily life and industrial policy — a smaller share of the population faces direct disruption, and the state frames the technology as an engine of growth. In the US, the story is more private-sector and more anxious: automation fears, local fights over data centers, and a louder debate about who controls the technology.
The optimism gap is the demand-side mirror of the supply-side race we keep covering — China's LLM call volume tops US for 15 straight weeks, and the Star 50 index up 29% in 2026 as China's AI trade hits 150x earnings. Markets already price China's AI momentum; public sentiment is the part of the ledger that's harder to quantify. If the gap holds, it compounds: optimism feeds adoption, adoption feeds data, and data feeds better products — a loop the US can't easily replicate with a skeptical public.
What to watch: whether American optimism shifts as AI moves from the chatbot window into everyday products — and whether China's enthusiasm survives its first real public backlash.
Where do you land — more excited or more worried about AI? Tell us in the comments.
