Gillian Tett: economics explains why America hates AI

Tett's column is built around a blunt headline question — 'Why does America hate AI?' — and answers it by pointing not at the technology itself but at the surrounding conditions: 'differences in economics, public policy, and cultural patterns.' That framing matters because it treats public sentiment as a product of circumstance rather than a verdict on AI capability.

Her column's dek extends the argument geographically, saying voter hostility to Big Tech helped shape the US midterms and that similar fears are spreading through the west, while 'look east and attitudes are dramatically more optimistic.' In other words, the same technology meets sharply different receptions depending on where it lands.

The piece sits alongside fresh data on the pessimism side of the Western debate: the Bank of England put the UK's three-year AI productivity gain at 0.5% and flagged that firms are cutting hiring rather than firing as the tooling arrives. Tett's read of the midterms as evidence rather than noise lands in the same week, suggesting the sentiment gap she describes is being reinforced by economic data points rather than fading.