In 12 countries Pew Research Center surveyed this year, we asked people how much they trust the United States, China and the European Union to effectively regulate artificial intelligence.
Across these 12 countries, a median of 43% trust China to regulate AI, 35% trust the U.S.
and 34% trust the EU.
We also asked people whether they trust their own country to effectively regulate AI.
In half of the nations surveyed, people trust their country more than China, the U.S.
We asked these same questions in a different set of 25 countries in spring 2025.
At that time, we found that people tended to most trust the EU to effectively regulate AI, followed by the U.S., then China.
As is the case in this year’s survey, most people trusted their own country.
This analysis is part of a broader study on how people around the world view AI.
It is based on a survey of 13,696 adults in 12 countries conducted Feb.
8-May 13, 2026.
Trust in China, the U.S.
and the EU to regulate AI In five of the 12 places surveyed – Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the West Bank and East Jerusalem – China is the country people trust most to regulate AI.
Singaporeans are most trusting of China and the EU.
In Chile and Thailand, people trust China, the U.S.
and the EU at roughly the same rate.
In Ghana, Peru and Colombia, people are about equally trusting of the U.S.
The Philippines is the only country surveyed where the U.S.
is more trusted than both China and the EU.
The countries where we asked this question are mostly middle income, as classified by World Bank....
