Americans think robots will start taking people’s jobs in the next five years — but not their jobs.
That’s the finding of a new nationwide survey, shared exclusively with Semafor, by advisory firm Breakwater Strategy and YouGov. It offers an early snapshot of Americans’ attitudes toward robots in various corners of everyday life.
“There’s a lot of anxiety about job displacement, but somehow it feels like at the moment, the notion of robotics is still a little bit distant,” Steve Weber, a Breakwater partner and UC Berkeley professor, told Semafor.
Most people would be comfortable with robots working in grocery store stock rooms or loading docks, where they’re out of sight. But only 39% are cool with them working at a self-checkout area.
Public sentiment toward robots will probably improve as deployments ramp up beyond pilot programs.
Barclays researcher Zornitsa Todorova compared it to the rollout of large language models, in which attitudes “wax and wane” as the public mood swings between excitement and deep anxiety over the tech’s impact on jobs, privacy, safety, and security.
