For the first week of class, I’ve put together some of the recent findings from the Pew Research Center that addresses generational responses to AI. These charts come from two summer reports: “Americans and AI 2026: Chatbots, Smart Devices and Views on Impact” (June 2026) and “Young adults in the U.S. are increasingly wary of AI, concerned it will take jobs” (August 2026).

The two courses I am teaching “Social Media and Networks” and “Critical Software Studies” converge on AI from different directions and concerns. So I thought we might begin with a question about the question. Specifically, I am curious with how the students in these classes respond to the way their generation is characterized (whichever generation that is, but mostly Z).