Anthropic Study: 80,000 Users in 159 Countries Share AI Hopes and Fears

In December 2025, Anthropic conducted what it calls the largest multilingual qualitative study on AI attitudes, engaging over 80,500 Claude users across 159 countries and 70 languages in a week-long conversational survey. While 67% of respondents held broadly positive views of AI, 89% simultaneously reported at least one significant fear, highlighting a widespread public ambivalence. The top aspirations centered on professional productivity and personal growth, whereas unreliability, job displacement, and loss of autonomy ranked as the leading concerns. Regional divides were notable, with users in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America showing less negative sentiment and viewing AI more as a tool for bypassing traditional economic barriers. Anthropic titled the study 'Light and Shade,' reflecting the contradictory reality that the same capabilities driving AI adoption are also the ones generating the most anxiety.