Gen Z worries AI is hidden, stored and watching, GetSolved survey finds

GetSolved surveyed 3,000 Americans ages 18 to 28 in August and found deep suspicion around AI, government secrecy and workplace replacement. Nearly half said AI is already conscious, while most believe governments, employers and platforms are not being fully honest about how the technology is used.

Why it matters: - GetSolved's survey suggests Gen Z's biggest AI concern is not just capability, but secrecy, surveillance and manipulation. - The findings point to low trust in institutions, strong fear of workplace displacement and growing anxiety about being wrongly accused by AI detection tools. - The results also show a split between heavy AI users and people who rarely use AI, with experience often shaping more optimism and more caution at the same time.

What happened: - GetSolved surveyed 3,000 Americans ages 18 to 28 in August 2026. - The respondents were recruited through online panels using Random Device Engagement. - The sample was not targeted by ethnicity or social background. - Percentages are rounded, and multiple-selection questions may total more than 100%. - 46% said AI has already become conscious. - 45% said AI labs have already built artificial general intelligence and are hiding it. - 64% said governments already use AI in ways they do not disclose.

The details: - 60% expect AI-enabled surveillance of citizens. - 56% expect AI-driven election manipulation. - 50% said whoever controls the most powerful AI will end up with more real power than any elected government. - 74% said employers are replacing staff with AI and calling it restructuring. - 58% said employers deliberately understate how much work AI already performs. - Asked whether AI will take their own job within five years, 46% agreed and 46% disagreed. - Among heavy AI users, 56% fear AI will take their job, compared with 33% of those who barely use AI. - 33% of all respondents said they hide how much they rely on AI so they do not look replaceable. - That share rises from 15% among those who barely use AI to 46% among heavy users, defined as daily use across multiple tools and 26% of the sample. - 80% assume anything typed into a chatbot is stored permanently. - 83% believe what they say near their phone shapes the ads they see. - 62% avoid putting personal or work-sensitive information into AI tools. - 46% said widespread AI use will make people worse at thinking and learning, while 31% said it will make people better. - Among heavy users, 47% said AI will make people better at thinking and 33% said worse. - Among people who rarely or never use AI, 6% said better and 64% said worse. - TikTok was the top place Gen Z hears about AI risk at 49%, followed by YouTube at 45%. - News articles were cited by 21%, and broadcast news by 18%. - Only 5% said they follow anyone specifically for AI-risk information. - Trust in institutions was low across the board: tech companies 30%, media and journalists 19%, teachers and professors 17%, government agencies and regulators 12%, social media influencers 12% and nobody on the list 21%. - Among current undergraduate and graduate students, 79% believe a graded paper could still be retroactively flagged as AI-generated. - 64% said AI detectors can no longer reliably distinguish human writing from AI-generated text. - 66% do not trust their school's accusation process to be fair. - 57% said they always or often change vocabulary or sentence style to avoid sounding like AI. - 46% said they always or often run their own work through humanizer tools. - 50% of students said they always or often worry about being falsely accused.

Between the lines: - The survey frames AI anxiety less as a science-fiction fear and more as a trust problem. - Comments from GetSolved's Head of Behavioral Research, Laura Kensington, suggest respondents see withholding and misrepresentation as the core issue, not autonomous machines. - Heavy users appear more conflicted: they are more likely to fear job loss, but also more likely to say AI can improve thinking. - Student behavior is adapting to detection pressure, with many rewriting their own work to avoid AI suspicion.

What's next: - GetSolved said the full study, including charts and usage breakdowns, is available in the company's report: the full study. - The company positions the findings as evidence that AI detection, workplace policy and institutional transparency will remain central issues as adoption grows.

The bottom line: - Gen Z is not just worried about what AI can do. The bigger fear is who is controlling it, what they are hiding and whether anyone can still tell the difference between human and machine output.