A short street-interview style transcript where an interviewer asks passersby whether AI will "kill us all" or take people’s jobs. Multiple speakers give mixed reactions—some dismiss existential risk, many worry about job displacement, and climate change is raised as a primary concern; a common attitude is resigned acceptance (“it’s gonna happen…just accept it”).
No. Yes. All right. Maybe. Maybe. Quick thing. Is AI going to kill us all? Oh, my goodness. Is AI going to kill us all? All right. Yo, quick question. I'm not interviewing. Okay. All right. This is all good. Can I ask you a question? Is AI going to kill us all? Take our jobs? All right, well, we'll get some people. Excuse me, quick. Do you think AI is going to kill us all or take our jobs?
Not kill us all.
Not kill us all. What about take our jobs?
Probably.
Yeah. Probably a lot of it. Yeah. Okay. What do you do for work?
Stay at home, dad.
Stay at home, dad. How many kids? Three. Heck, yeah. How old are they?
Actually, two are older, so only my daughter's 15. But the other.
The other two have already gone through the nest. Okay. And what are they doing in college?
One is trying to be a photographer.
Cool.
The other one's.
What is it?
Public health.
Okay. Okay. Awesome. Are you worried about their future at all in the era of AI?
Well, I think global warming.
First one. That's the first number one problem. And AI does kind of compound that problem, right? Because all the energy consumption, I guess the water thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Totally. Okay. So not gonna kill us all, but probably take some jobs. And you're not too worried about the kids. You're more worried about us dying?
I am worried, yeah.
Okay. But climate change, number one, then worried about jobs. Great. Okay. What's your name? Alex. Alex. Robert. Thank you. Appreciate it.
Well, check it out. So I'm a K. Pop artist and my culture said pop.
Awesome. Quick question. Do you think AI is going to kill us all or take our jobs? Do you think AI will kill us all or take our jobs? Come.
Okay.
Come. Okay.
I'm sorry.
Is AI artificial intelligence? Are you worried about it? Do you think. Do you think you'll kill us or take our jobs? Are you real? I'm real. I think. I think so. Well, we might all be in the Matrix. I don't know how I could prove it to you. How could I prove it to you?
Hey, let's see. Cut yourself. Let's see if you bleed.
What's your name?
I love that.
I'm Jeff.
Jeff. Thank you. Okay.
Don't report me to the bedroom.
I won't. No, you're great. You're great. So, AI not worried. Not worried. I love it.
I am a real person.
You're a real person?
I am real.
Yes.
I am not a robot.
Good. Okay. Positive view of the future. I love it. I love it. So we got one positive, one negative. We're just going to count actually how many positive interactions, how many negative interactions we get or positive views of the future? Negative views of the future. Let's keep it going. Quick question. Do you think AI is going to kill us all or take our jobs?
I didn't understand the last part of your question.
Do you think AI will take our jobs or kill us all? Are you worried about that?
I am worried.
Okay. Yeah. What worries?
And I did do think that's going to take a whole lot of jobs.
Yeah, got it. Okay. And what do you do for a living? There's a little microphone.
Cuz it looks like a little.
I know, yeah, yeah. So what, what, and what do you do for a living?
I'm retired.
Cool. Okay, so you're good. Do you have kids?
I don't have kids.
Don't have kids. Okay.
I have a niece and a nephew.
And are you worried for them and the future of their jobs or the job market?
Yeah.
Okay. Okay, got it. All right, so we should be kind of worried. We should be kind of worried. Really worried. Like on a scale of 10 is in. I'm worried and I can't go to sleep. And one is like, ah, we got this.
Eight.
Eight. Okay, that's a lot. Okay, so losing sleep some nights, but.
Yeah, maybe not losing.
Got it. But are you trying to stay positive?
Not particularly.
Okay, fair, fair. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Take care. All right, so one positive, two negatives. Excuse me, can I ask you a quick question? Do you think AI is going to kill us all or take our jobs?
Maybe, maybe.
Is it 50? 50 you think?
It depends. Right? It depends on how advanced AI it lets people get.
Got it. And what do you do for a living?
I'm in insurance.
Cool.
Hoping AI doesn't take over. Yeah, I'm hoping less automation the better.
Yeah, why is that? Could you elaborate?
Well, no, that just would take more jobs away from people. Yeah, the more automation there is.
Got it. Okay, so on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being like, I'm super worried, you can't sleep at night. One is like, ah, we got this, not that. So like three. Three, four.
Yeah, probably like a three.
Cool. Okay. Yo, thank you so much. No problem. Keep it positive. Can I ask a quick question? Just doing street interviews for my AI startup. We're trying to save the world and so I'm just asking people, are you worried about AI killing us all? Checking our jobs?
I don't know anything about AI.
Okay, so you're not worried? Not even thinking about it?
Don't even think about it.
Okay. I like that. That's really great. Thank you for the positivity. Awesome. That's actually really great. It's refreshing to have that. Okay, so I'll count that as a positive. Or it could be a neutral because maybe you're avoidant of the problem because it's so in the face of everybody. So I'll count that as neutral. It's a little hard to get angles, but. Oh, yeah, I think. Wait, hang on. Just the width of the street sometimes. Oh, okay. Yeah, I think maybe if you hold it up here, then we could just crop.
Yeah, it's.
It's pretty good. It's just sometimes. Okay. I don't get both of you. Oh, okay. You could, like, kind of move around or. Or signal to me and I'll try to. Hey, quick question. Do you think AI is going to kill us all or take our jobs? Probably. Probably.
Yeah.
All right. Like 90% confident. 80% confident. 99.9. So does that keep you up at night or are you not sweating it?
Nah, I'll probably be dead by then.
Okay. And how about you all? I think I'm fine with it. You're fine with it. Cool. And you? I think it's definitely going to take a lot of jobs. Definitely going to take a lot of jobs. So for sure. Pretty sure. Going to take our jobs. And you're cool with it? Tell me why you're cool with it. I'm curious. I don't know. I feel like it's going to happen no matter what. So we just gotta accept it, not feel too bad about it. Okay. I like that. I like, let it roll. Can't let it roll over. You gotta roll with it. Just gotta focus on what's in our control. I think that's a positive take. I like that. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Have a great day. All right. I'll count that as three positives. So they accept it. They think it's gonna take all our jobs, but they're okay with that? I think that's right. That's a very, like, I'm accepting of it. I'm not gonna let it keep me up at night. I'm gonna focus on what's in our control. Yeah, that's what I learned in therapy, so that's pretty healthy. High gratitude, low agency. Yeah, high gratitude, low agency. Yo, excuse me. Do you think AI is gonna kill us all or take our jobs? Okay, I'll take that as a maybe. That is such a good hook. Wait, let me ask this guy. Yo. Do you think AI is gonna kill us all or take our jobs? I'll walk with you. Yes. No speaking. Oh, okay. All right. No, thank you. Thank you. All right. I think if we go this way and circle back, we'll probably find more people.
