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Drexel Study: How Much Do People Really Trust Generative AI?

Drexel University researchers analyzed over 230,000 Reddit posts from 2022 to 2025 and found that about 31% expressed trust in generative AI, while 26% expressed distrust. Trust was more common among business leaders, academics, developers, and tech professionals, whereas distrust appeared more often among the general public, AI ethicists, and journalists. Direct experience with AI was the leading factor behind both trust and distrust, with users focusing more on accuracy, reliability, and performance than broader ethical concerns.

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Trust vs. Skepticism: A Large-Scale Reddit Study Reveals Real Public Attitudes Toward Generative AI

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Researchers at Drexel University analyzed over 230,000 Reddit posts from 2022 to 2025, finding that about 31% of posts expressed trust in generative AI, slightly higher than the 26% that expressed distrust. The study indicates that direct usage experience is the primary factor influencing trust, while ethical concerns are relatively rare in discussions.

  • Among over 230,000 Reddit posts, about 31% expressed trust, 26% expressed distrust, 41% expressed neither, and about 1% expressed both.
  • Trust was more common among business leaders, academics, developers, and tech professionals; distrust was more prevalent among the general public, AI ethicists, and journalists.
  • Direct experience with AI was the most common reason for trust or distrust, with discussions focusing more on accuracy, reliability, and performance rather than ethical issues.
Open section navigationResearch Background and Key Data

Research Background and Key Data

Researchers at Drexel University analyzed over 230,000 posts from 39 AI-related subreddits between November 2022 and June 2025 to assess public trust in generative AI. The study was published in the Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics. Results showed that about 31% of posts expressed trust, 26% expressed distrust, 41% expressed neither, and about 1% expressed both.

The study covered multiple systems including ChatGPT, LLaMA, and Claude. Lead author Aria Pessianzadeh defined trust as 'believing that generative AI is reliable, capable, or acts with integrity, thereby having positive expectations of its performance or behavior,' while distrust was defined as 'active skepticism or concern about the technology's reliability, capability, or ethical implications.'

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Credibility boundary

This report is based on research from Drexel University, published in the peer-reviewed journal Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics, with data sourced from Reddit post analysis. The study itself has limitations, such as insufficient sample representativeness, and this report is a secondary account; specific figures and conclusions should be verified against the original research.

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  1. Drexel Researchers Examine How Much People Really Trust Generative AIThe AI Insider

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