AI is creating anxiety.
This project creates clarity.
AI is being built into work, school, and daily life faster than most people have been given time or guidance to evaluate. Some people see real value. Others feel anxious, skeptical, or overwhelmed.
You don't have to feel excited about every new AI product.
63%
of Americans believe AI technology is advancing too quickly
(Pew Research Center)
AI should work for you, not the other way around.
Our research will map what people want from AI, what their real reservations are, and what would make it feel useful on their own terms.
Why this needs public funding
People need AI guidance that is not trying to sell them AI.
This project has no product to promote. No vendor funding. No agenda beyond understanding what people actually want from a technology that is being built at scale, without anyone asking the people it's being built for.
Public support helps create independent research that gives people a clearer way to understand AI before it becomes even more deeply embedded in everyday life.
How the research will work
Most AI research measures adoption rates, productivity, and broad public attitudes. This project goes deeper, examining people's actual relationships with AI:
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Therapist vs Work Tool
For some people, AI is a functional tool for a defined task. For others it becomes a close friend to discuss worries, doubts, and things they may not tell anyone else. This project will identify what predicts where someone falls on that spectrum. We'll also measure how strongly people feel AI "gets" them, how much weight they give its answers, and how much they let it decide or act on their behalf.
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Friction vs Empowerment
Knowing where AI has entered someone's life doesn't tell us whether it's good for them. AI can save time, expand opportunity, and help people do more or it can create confusion, unhealthy dependence, eroded skills, and loss of control. This project will map when AI tips one way or the other, and for whom.
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Human-Centered Profiles And Guidance
The revealing part is how the two dimensions interact. A deep, personal relationship with AI can be genuinely empowering for one person and quietly costly for another; a purely functional one can be either. We'll combine both dimensions into distinct AI relationship profiles and translate them into practical guidance so people can see their own pattern, and what it would take to shift it in the direction they want.
See our methodology page for more in-depth details about the survey design and research questions
Who benefits from this research
Small businesses, independent workers, students, job seekers, parents, educators, and everyday professionals are often left to figure out AI through trial and error. That is not good enough.
Anyone Trying to Make Sense of AI
Understand your own relationship with AI. What do you actually want from it, what gives you pause, and what conditions would make it feel genuinely worth using?
Small Businesses
Get independent perspective on where AI can actually help, rather than what vendors want you to buy.
Teams & Organizations
Build AI strategies grounded in what your people actually need, not just what your tools can do. Understanding the human side of AI is the prerequisite to making it work at scale.
We'll deliver publicly available research and interactive tools to help you navigate AI.
Baseline Deliverables (if we hit fundraising goal)
Research Report on Human & AI Relationships
We'll release key findings into people's growing relationships with AI.
What are the top concerns? How are most people actually using AI, and how does this vary across people?
Data Dashboard
Have your own research questions?
The public will have access to a dashboard for diving deeper into the report's data.
Video & Infographic Series
Making our research accessible is a top priority.
Our team will make several videos and infographics that translate key findings into a format that's easy to understand. No technical background needed.
Questions?
You don't have to figure out AI alone
This project will create both independent evidence and a community for people navigating the same questions.
Community Space
This campaign goes beyond just funding a research study by building a community of people thinking seriously about what AI means for how we work, communicate, and live.
Starting at $10, backers get invited to a private LinkedIn group to connect with others navigating the same questions.
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Workshop
And for those who want to go deeper still, our top-tier backers ($500+) join a small, hands-on workshop where we apply the research directly to a real task or decision in your life. This isn't a lecture, but a working session.
Stretch Goals
If we exceed our funding goal, we can expand the project and make the findings even more useful.
125% funded:
Small Business AI Adoption Report
If we reach this goal, we’ll create a dedicated mini-report for small businesses, showing where owners and teams are getting stuck, what AI capabilities feel useful, what risks they are trying to avoid, and what practical steps can help them move forward without enterprise-level complexity.
This project is led by
Meet the Research Team
Principal Researcher & AI Scientist
Michael Haupt, PhD
Michael is a social network scientist who researches how people communicate online and has published scientific papers testing how prompt wording impacts responses from AI. He is also a market research analyst, where he designed studies for clients such as Google to learn what people actually want from technology.
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Principal Consultant, Strategic Research & Insights
Javier Villamar, MBA
Javier turns complex market, customer, and AI-related signals into clear strategic direction. He leads end-to-end research, from study design and segmentation to analysis, synthesis, and insight development. Across Dropbox, Google EMEA, P&G, U of South Carolina, Chevron, and consulting environments, he has helped leaders make sharper decisions.
Course Instructor
Rob Kaufman, PhD
Rob supports the project’s learning and education components, helping translate the research into practical guidance that people can understand and apply.
