The generation most likely to describe AI as a positive force in their lives is also the generation most likely to have been scammed using it. Malwarebytes surveyed 1,500 adults across the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in March 2026 and found that 70 percent of those aged 18 to 22 experienced an AI-related scam in the past year — compared with half the general population. Seventy-four percent of the same group say AI has positively affected their lives.
The data captures a relationship that is simultaneously enthusiastic and adversarial. Young adults are early adopters on both ends of the AI economy: as users and as targets. Nineteen percent have fallen victim to a deepfake or virtual kidnapping scam, more than double the 8 percent recorded among the general population. Fifty-six percent have been targeted by an extortion scam. Eighty-one percent are worried someone will use AI to create fake explicit content of them, and 15 percent say it has already happened.
The trust picture is changing alongside the scam exposure. Half of 18 to 22-year-olds strongly agree it is becoming harder to distinguish genuine online content from AI-generated material, versus 42 percent of the general population. Forty-four percent have encountered AI-produced information they later discovered to be wrong or misleading. Twenty-three percent say they have suffered negative consequences after following AI advice. Eighty percent are posting and sharing less online than they were a year ago, against 61 percent among wider respondents.
The behavioural shifts go beyond caution about scams. Forty-seven percent say AI has changed how much they trust online reviews and content, 35 percent say it has changed how they shop, and 32 percent say it has affected how they present themselves professionally.
The report is available at malwarebytes.com.
To stay across the latest in cloud, AI and enterprise tech analysis from Compare the Cloud, subscribe to our weekly newsletter at https://www.comparethecloud.net/newsletter
