Snap introduced AI Sponsored Snaps this week, an advertising tool allowing users to chat with AI bots from brand partners. Despite the company’s continued push into artificial intelligence, CEO Evan Spiegel suggested the pivot won’t win the company any popularity points.
“I think technology leaders think that folks will just blindly adopt new technology as it comes out,” Spiegel said on Lenny’s Podcast. “And I think we’s going to enter a period of time where there’s going to be a huge amount of societal pushback on a lot of the changes that are coming with AI.”
Snap has leaned heavily into AI without alienating its billion monthly users. The platform launched its chatbot My AI in February 2023, months after OpenAI released ChatGPT. This month, Spiegel called AI “probably the best thing that’s ever happened” to the company, noting AI now writes two-thirds of Snap’s code. The company grew its subscriber base 71% year-over-year in late 2025, reaching over 25 million paid subscribers. Revenue climbed 11% to $5.9 billion in 2025.
An NBC News poll of 1,000 registered voters found only 26% view AI positively, while 46% hold negative views. That places AI barely ahead of the Democratic party, which recorded a 22-point net negative rating, and well ahead of Iran’s 53-point net negative. Fear has led some employees, particularly younger workers, to sabotage their employers’ AI rollouts. A survey of 2,400 knowledge workers by AI firm Writer and research firm Workplace Intelligence found 29% of employees—and 44% of Gen Z workers—admitted to undermining their company’s AI implementation.
Despite criticism, Big Tech has invested $700 billion in capital expenditures on AI. Usage continues rising, with 57% of Americans reporting they use the technology and 40% using generative AI more than a year ago, according to a Brookings Institute report.
Chief executives are increasingly aware of public sentiment. In March, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged AI had become the bogeyman, warning continued scrutiny could slow growth.
“AI is not very popular in the U.S. right now,” he said.
Why Do So Many People Dislike AI?
Altman attributed disapproval to data centers’ association with rising electricity bills and widespread layoffs employers attribute to AI, whether or not AI actually caused them. Snap announced in April it would cut about 1,000 roles, roughly 16% of its full-time staff, along with 300 planned hires.
Despite limited evidence of widespread job displacement from AI, anxiety about future employment persists. Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence’s 2026 AI Index Report found nearly two-thirds of Americans believe AI will reduce jobs over the next two decades, with only 5% expecting job growth.
The report also revealed significant distrust in the U.S. government’s ability to regulate AI. The U.S. had the lowest trust levels globally, with less than one-third of participants expressing confidence, compared to an average of 54% across all countries surveyed. Some AI leaders, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton, have acknowledged the technology needs stronger guardrails to prevent increased cyber vulnerabilities or, at worst, autonomous AI systems posing existential risks.
Spiegel’s concerns about broader AI acceptance stem from a similar source: anxiety that AI companies prioritize short-term profits over humanity’s best interests.
“Humanity is far more important than technological developments, largely because humanity dictates how technology is adopted,” he said. “A lot of our focus as an industry, but more broadly in the world, needs to be putting humanity first, making sure the tools we’re developing are advancing humanity’s goals in addition to business goals.”
He acknowledged tech leaders face a difficult balance.
“On the one hand, this is really dangerous… and we need people to know this because it’s happening and moving quickly,” Spiegel said. “On the other hand, how do you not just freak everyone out and make everyone so afraid of where things are going?”