New JUST Capital Survey Shows American Public and Investors Disagree on Key AI Issues. One Area Of Alignment? More Spending on Safety.

NEW YORK, NY October 28, 2025 – As executives across industries race to deploy AI’s transformative potential, another urgent question looms: What do the people who determine a company’s success — employees, consumers, communities, and investors — actually expect from corporate AI implementation?

Today, JUST Capital released new survey findings as part of a comprehensive effort to define responsible AI deployment through the eyes of the key population groups. Drawing on a decade of polling the American public, this research, conducted in partnership with The Harris Poll and Robin Hood Foundation, reveals areas of alignment and divergence across two core audiences: the American public and investors. 

JUST Capital will be tracking these perceptions quarterly as the technology evolves, offering leaders a real-time compass as they navigate a rapidly changing business landscape. The organization will also begin surveying business leaders this fall to compare stakeholder and corporate expectations. 

Stay tuned: JUST Capital will continue to share insights from the first round of research over the coming weeks.

“We’re at an inflection point. Every day, leaders are grappling with both the opportunities AI creates and the risks it poses at scale. What responsible AI leadership looks like is being defined in real time,” says JUST Capital CEO Martin Whittaker. “Our research aims to equip corporate leaders with additional insights to realize AI’s full promise including the business value it can unlock and the wider prosperity we all need it to deliver. If we can get this right, everyone wins.”

Initial Findings

The public and investors disagree on two key issues:

Expectations of productivity 

The vast majority (96%) of investors believe AI will have a net positive impact on worker productivity. However, only 47% of the public say AI will result in a net positive impact on productivity. 

Distribution of AI-related gains

The public is in favor of distributing AI-driven corporate profits across several efforts, including lower prices for customers, workforce supports including for laid-off workers, and investments in safety and security. Investors believe the majority of gains should be allocated to shareholders, but do believe in gains going to other efforts including lower prices for customers. 

Meanwhile, they agree on: 

AI safety as a top concern

Despite recent emphasis on an AI race between the United States and international rivals, both the American public and investors are more concerned about preventing accidents, misuse and other consequences of AI. Both groups also see impacts on social stability as a greater concern than U.S. competitiveness. 

A significant amount of spend toward safety

The majority of the public and investors believe companies should be spending more than 5% of total AI spend on the safety of these tools and platforms. Given recent capital allocations to AI investments, 5% represents a dollar amount in the hundreds of billions. According to JUST Capital tracking to date, top AI developers and users have not publicly disclosed the amount spent on safety. 

Are you a corporate executive? Please take our AI-focused survey here to inform how we continue to define and measure AI leadership.