By Christopher Budd
“Trust in the Future” examines how trust shapes emerging technology trends—especially in Europe—and why prioritizing trust is essential for the adoption and responsible use of innovations like cloud computing, generative AI, and quantum computing.
There is no technology, old or new, for which the question of trust is more acute than artificial intelligence (AI).
Consider the ambitions of AI proponents: from performing surgeries to managing weapons systems and many other tasks that today we reluctantly entrust to humans.
If we are to hand these jobs over to AI, we need to have the deepest levels of trust in AI, in many cases deeper trust than we currently have in our fellow humans.
Two surveys from the past 7 months give us a view into attitudes towards AI in the United States and Europe. These surveys clearly show that European attitudes towards AI appear to be significantly more positive, optimistic and trusting than those in the United States.
Ultimately adoption of AI can result in realizing the positive rewards and benefits that it offers to people, customers, businesses, and governments.
Information in both surveys may point to why Europeans seem to show more trust in AI and how Europe may be getting things right more than the United States in fostering trust in AI. These surveys suggest that increased public trust directly correlates with greater acceptance and adoption of AI technologies. And ultimately adoption of AI can result in realizing the positive rewards and benefits that it offers to people, customers, businesses, and governments.
A Tale of Two Surveys
The United States is represented in a survey by the Pew Foundation from April 2025, “How the U.S. Public and AI Experts View Artificial Intelligence”. Europe is represented in a survey by Deloitte from October 2024, “Europeans are optimistic about generative AI but there is more to do to close the trust gap”.
While the Pew and Deloitte surveys are by different companies using different methodologies, both are similar enough to support judicious comparison. Both surveys reveal important information regarding attitudes towards trust in AI on both sides of the Atlantic. Most importantly, there are also common clues in each that point to the best path forward for improving trust in AI.
The Pew results show a lot of pessimism and distrust in people’s opinions of AI in the United States. The most important result being 17%. This represents the percentage of the public who say that “AI will have a very or somewhat positive impact on the United States over the next 20 years”.
Meanwhile, in Europe, the most important result in Deloitte’s survey is 59%. That is the percentage of Europeans who say “Effective use of generative AI by businesses and individuals in my country will benefit society”.
While these two questions are not identical, they are similar enough to warrant comparison, which reveals a striking 42 percentage point transatlantic gap: a stark contrast around AI between optimism in Europea and pessimism in the United States.
This optimism in Europe and pessimism in the United States is supported by some additional findings as in the surveys shown in the table below.
| United States | Europe |
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A full read of both surveys also shows more clearly how much more trust and optimism there is towards AI in Europe than there is in the United States.
Convergence to the Positive Path Forward
Both surveys make clear that these attitudes towards AI have a direct bearing on trust and that level of trust in turn shapes how much people are interested in AI being more a part of their lives.
If business and political leaders want to foster the adoption of AI, then we want to know how to drive more of the optimism of Europe and less of the pessimism of the United States.
Obviously one key difference between Europe and the United States is the recently passed EU AI Act for which there is nothing similar in the United States at a Federal or state level.
Findings in both surveys reinforce that point and show how important regulation like the EU AI Act is for trust. Both surveys make clear that respondents want more regulation.
In the United States, Pew shows that 58% of the public say that there’s not enough regulation around AI: a remarkably high number in a traditionally regulation-averse country. A similar question from Deloitte shows not only a similar desire for regulation among Europeans, but a clear indication that better regulation means more use of AI: 53% of respondents agree that “generative AI would be more used in my country if it was properly regulated by the government of my country.”
Results in the Deloitte survey may also indicate how a stronger regulatory framework like the EU AI act can also help businesses and organizations gain trust around AI. A comprehensive regulatory approach may create broader public trust across sectors.
The Deloitte survey shows that 51% of European respondents say, “I trust business and organizations to use generative AI tools responsibly,” while in the United States, Pew’s survey shows only 32% of the public give a similar answer.
The questions don’t directly tie the EU AI Act to the greater trust Europeans have for AI use by businesses and organizations. But a 19 percentage point trust gap between the EU with its AI Act and generally more regulatory-focused approach and the United States with no government regulation and a less regulatory approach is telling. Trust in business and AI would seem to benefit from regulation in Europe while businesses in the United States suffer for the lack of it.
But a desire for regulation does not inherently translate to trust in the regulators. Both in Europe and the United States there are more respondents who want more AI regulation than there are those who have confidence in government to effectively regulate AI. In Europe only 50% expressed confidence in government to effectively regulate AI, three percentage points less than wanted more regulation. And in the United States, only 28% had confidence in government to regulate AI, a full 30 percentage points below those who wanted more regulation.
Moving Forward on the Positive Path
People in Europe and the United States show a clear desire for regulation to increase trust in AI but also need to gain more trust in business and government at the same time
When we look at the state of attitudes towards AI in Europe and the United States, we see a huge optimism–pessimism gap between the two, with Europe significantly more positive about AI than the United States. As we examine differences between Europe and the United States that could explain this difference, we see that Europe already has (and the United States lacks) something that people in both regions want: regulation that will increase their trust in AI. We also see, though, another point of commonality between Europe and the United States: more desire for regulation than confidence in government to be an effective regulator.
Untangling these attitudes gives a path forward. People in Europe and the United States show a clear desire for regulation to increase trust in AI but also need to gain more trust in business and government at the same time.
Increasing trust in AI, which demands the greatest trust, requires that businesses and governments spend time and energy on making trust as much a priority as technological innovation. It requires businesses and governments to listen to and work with the people they want to use AI in a three-way trust-building partnership of businesses, governments and people. In the United States in particular, it requires being open to and learning from Europe about what is working if there is any hope of closing the optimism–pessimism gap these surveys demonstrate. Technological advancement is futile without public trust. Europe’s proactive regulatory stance offers a model for sustainable and ethical AI adoption—one that the United States would do well to study and emulate.
About the Author
Christopher Budd is a cybersecurity communications expert with over two decades of experience leading global initiatives at Microsoft, Trend Micro, Sophos, and Avast. He co-developed Microsoft’s “Patch Tuesday” and participated in and led Microsoft’s responses to more than 200 international security incidents. He specializes in translating complex digital threats into actionable insights for business and government leaders. A Contributing Writer for GeekWire and frequent guest on cybersecurity podcasts, he explores how trust shapes the future of innovation, regulation, and resilience.
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