AI Optimism Lean · Netherlands (Pew)

## What this measures

Of the people in Netherlands who lean one way about AI in daily life, the share who lean excited: "more excited than concerned" divided by the sum of "more excited than concerned" and "more concerned than excited", times 100. People who are equally concerned and excited, or who do not answer, are left out.

## Why it matters

Public attitude toward AI sets the pace at which organizations can deploy it: how employees receive AI tools, how customers respond to AI features, and how hard regulators lean. A country where the worried far outnumber the enthusiastic is one where AI launches meet more resistance and AI rules arrive sooner.

## How to read it

50 means the two camps are the same size. Below 50, the worried outnumber the enthusiastic; above 50, the reverse. Because every country is asked the same question, this is the fairest single number for comparing countries.

## What it does not say

It measures a feeling about AI in daily life, not views on existential risk, on specific uses, or on regulation. It says nothing about how much people use AI; worry and use rise together in many countries. Surveys are annual, so the series moves in steps. Where many people do not answer (India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ghana and Nigeria each have 17% or more), the shares describe the people who did.

## Method

Pew Research Center. Outside the U.S. the question is part of Pew's Spring Global Attitudes Survey: nationally representative samples interviewed by phone, face to face or online depending on the country. Figures are Pew's published toplines. Citation: "Globally, More People Expect AI to Cause Job Loss Than Growth." Pew Research Center, Washington, D.C. (September 17, 2026) https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2026/09/17/globally-more-people-expect-ai-to-cause-job-loss-than-growth/ Earlier global wave: "How People Around the World View AI." Pew Research Center, Washington, D.C. (October 15, 2025) https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/10/15/how-people-around-the-world-view-ai/ Pew is not responsible for any analysis or interpretation of the data here. The optimism lean is a Palanor calculation.

## Source

Pew Research Center: Spring Global Attitudes Surveys (2025, 2026) and American Trends Panel (U.S., 2021–2026). Pew is not responsible for Palanor's analysis.