Why it matters: Portraying AI as immensely powerful — even dangerous — reinforces the idea that only a few companies can build it safely. That’s an effective message for fundraising but a scary pitch to consumers.
The big picture: AI is getting scarier and more unpopular as the technology improves and elections approach.

• Only 26% of voters view AI positively, making it even less popular than ICE, according to an NBC News poll of 1,000 voters.
• Privately, several AI CEOs tell Axios they’re nervous an anti-AI wave could hit hard enough to power a “ban AI” movement heading into 2028.
• But they feel lost and divided on how to deliver a more uplifting message until AI does something beyond coding for engineers or creating agents that seem destined to take human jobs.