Alexis asked his manager to stop using chatgpt. Delaney sees her eco-friendly friend making exceptions to this technology. Weezy said she was trying to make sure none of her friends touch the AI.
Much is made with Gen Z being the first “AI Native” generation. Young people are raised in AI and use it on everything from homework help to dating, allowing them to bring their skills into the workforce.
Many Zers embrace AI, but not all young people are on board.
A McKinsey study earlier this year found that millennials, not Generation Z, reported the most familiarity and comfort of generator AI. In a recent Slack survey, 30% of millennials said they have a complete understanding of AI agents compared to 22% of Gen Z respondents.
The Gen Zers subsections have come out enthusiastically against AI. These young people include both men and women, as evidenced by many Tiktok comments and posts about X, but none of the young men contacted by business insiders agreed to the interview.
We talked to four Gen Z women and asked why they ended up hating AI and how long they went to avoid technology.
Alexis Rose Young, 23
Alexis Rose Young, 23, said he asked his boss to consider not using chatgpt. Alexis Rose Young
As a marine biology student, 23-year-old Alexis Rose Young is deeply concerned about the environment. She said she saw ai “do more harm than good.”
“I personally really care about the environmental impact that AI needs with the amount of carbon,” Young said.
Thanks to the AI boom, data centers have created an incredible demand for electricity, increasing their carbon footprint. A 2024 Goldman Sachs report showed that data centers’ carbon footprint could more than double by 2030. Another 2024 study suggested that writing and illustration carbon emissions were lower than AI than human counterparts.
Young does his best to remove AI from her life. She often uses Google to find companies that have integrated AI into their services and turn off the features. She discovered some inevitable use of AI, such as when her professor recently asked her to use grammar.
Recently, Young’s Manager of Customer Service Jobs used AI to sketch out what a monthly chalkboard design looks like. She tried to explain her concerns.
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean that I’m not an expert, I don’t mean that I’m “awake too much.” “I tried to tell her a little more.”
Cheyenne Shoemaker, 24
The 24-year-old Cheyenne Shoemaker said he was calling previous versions of iOS to avoid Apple Intelligence. Cheyenne Shoemaker
Cheyenne Shoemaker worked in mental health care. Now she’s watching people recommend ChatGpt over treatment.
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“A big part of the benefits of treatment is the relationship between therapist and the client,” Shoemaker said. “Our social skills have already been greatly influenced by the rise of technology.”
Shoemaker was frustrated that humans were talking to the robot, whether it was a temporary therapist or a customer service representative. Also citing environmental concerns, the 24-year-old said he would avoid using AI in his life, except for a quick glance at Google’s AI overview.
When Shoemaker heard that iOS 18 would include the new Apple Intelligence feature, she turned off automatic software updates on her phone.
“There’s no reason for this,” Shoemaker said. “Why do cell phones need AI?”
Many workplaces are beginning to require employees to quickly adopt AI tools to improve productivity. Will Shoemaker take one of those jobs?
“I think it’s going to break the deal,” she said. “Ethically, I can’t do that.”
Then Shoemaker caught himself. The app she uses to get a dog walking gig has an AI tool that sums up your pet’s personality.
Weezy Summers, 27
Weezy Summers, 27, said none of her friends use AI. Weezy Sizes
When asked to make her feelings about AI, 27-year-old Weezy Summers responded quickly, “I hate it! I don’t want to do anything with it.”
Sims said the AI had a negative impact on her work. As a florist, her clients bring in AI-generated flower arrangements made from non-existent flowers. As an Etsy seller, SIMES sees the platform flooding with AI-generated art and product descriptions.
“My sales have been declining significantly,” Sims said. “I know some people are protesting for a variety of reasons, but just because it’s the cause or because it’s overflowing with all the printing items generated by these AI, it doesn’t seem like people want to see it anymore.”
SIMES believes that AI is “destroying our community, our health and the environment” and that it is “responsible for creating a lot of garbage.” Aside from the inevitable in-app integration, the Sims said they “have never intentionally used AI.”
Her friends don’t use it either. When ChatGpt first appeared, SIMES saw one of its roommates instead of a search engine.
“I told her a big story,” Sims said.
Delaney Vetter, 26
Delaney Vetter, 26, said AI is not useful for his job as a spokesperson. Leigh Ann Cobb Photography/Leigh Ann Cobb Photography
Delaney Vetter, 26, has “ethical and environmental” concerns about AI.
She remembers when Sam Altman said Openai spent “tens of millions of dollars” on electricity costs to people who say “Please” and “Thank You” on the ChatGpt model, and when the New York Times reported that Meta was building a nearby data center and that their family lost access to running water. (A Meta spokesperson previously told The Times that the data center was “impossible” to have affected the local groundwater supply.
Vetter sees her friends using AI for increasingly simple tasks, such as drafting grocery shopping lists. These friends are “green, ethical and thoughtful people,” she said.
“AI seems to be an exception to the rules, from my perspective,” Vetter said.
As a food and drink spokesman, Vetter doesn’t believe that AI is also helping her work a lot. Two years ago, the PR group she worked for suggested using AI to write headlines. The bettors were skeptical. When she hired an intern last year, she realized that many of the cover letters seemed to have been written by ChatGpt.
Vetter also said he spoke to one of the employees after realising that many of the email responses were “obviously not written by them.”
Today, Vetter doesn’t use any generate AI at all in her work, she says, but sometimes she finds herself seduced.
On Zoom Calls, Vetter often uses AI Note Takers to see clients. She sometimes asks herself why she doesn’t use it, but she has her reasons.
“I’m going to take notes because I remember what we talked about and then I’m going to send them out, and that’s the same as they get an AI summary,” Vetter said. “And in many cases, these AI summaries are really unstable.”
Do you have any tips or stories to share? Please contact the reporter at hchandonnet@businessinsider.com.
