“Do I trust AI to be right for me and the world?” That’s a technical question and a human-impact problem staring people in the face. The answer is no, it’s not. Not for me; not for the world. We are living in a techno-dystopia made of emotions.
It feels like the world is accelerating, but not to benefit society as a whole. AI spread nearly instantaneously in 2022: It had no distribution friction via web browsers and mobile apps. Disruption was stratospheric. Society breaks when disruption touches the social fabric, and breaks faster when society has no time to adapt.
This is troubling: 40% of Gen Z weekly AI users say they’re anxious about it; 22% are angry. 24% are excited. That is a trust breakdown. When it bleeds into finance, it threatens how the industry withstands disruption. (Source: Gallup)
AI is a revolution in human behavior because AI is fundamentally a tool for humans. Trust in a technology is that it will help people make themselves better off, feel better off, or reap rewards from others doing the same.
While builders create the next great model, society is grappling with what is happening in front of it right now.
A techno-dystopia is what’s happening in front of them: Frustration, fear, anger, resentment, for people and the technology. Will the social fabric tear? It’s fraying.
Trust in technology as a tool is the trust that it will work as intended, and increasingly that it will “choose” to work as intended, and not hurt anyone in the process.
A tool sparks anger when it falls short of what its builders claim it can do, or struggling to learn it feels like missing out.
AI has dramatically enabled new, grueling ways of working; it in theory makes us more productive per dollar and unit time.
Power users, and power-companies, are leading new ways of working. They see the upside in AI-driven productivity. They know what they want from an AI, how to achieve those goals, what silently fails, and how to guide it back to a useful answer.
The brutal underside is when the work that AI enables is the root cause, or the public reason, for layoffs, poor job prospects, longer or more intense hours yoked to a screen or on other tasks in the name of greater productivity per hour or per dollar.
AI is a human excuse. That’s why it has a trust problem.
Gen Zers who frequently use AI are more likely to think positively of it. But anxiety in particular still registers. (Source: Walton Family Foundation, Gallup).
From the notebook
With AI, the link between technology adoption and positive feeling has waned.
The classic measure, “I am among the first to try new technologies,” implies interest and outlook. “I never try new technologies” implies disinterest or fear.
A recent Gallup survey captured Gen Z curiosity, excitement, hopefulness, anxiety, and anger, on top of AI use.
How to interpret this backdrop?
The tension won’t go away. Part 2 pivots from the social backdrop of AI to strategic implications for the banking industry.
Resources:
2026 AI Insights Report (TD Bank, Big Query)
Voices of Gen Z Study (Walton Family Foundation, Gallup)
Thanks for reading Fintech Notebook: A weekly GTM intelligence briefing read by fintech operators, strategists, and investors. Connect on LinkedIn or visit my website @ tylerbrown.co.
AI disclosure: The author used AI to assist chart design and layout.