Silicon Valley celebrates artificial intelligence and robotics as fields that have the power to improve people’s lives, through inventions like driverless cars and robot carers for the elderly.

That message isn’t getting through to the rest of the country, where more than 70% of Americans express wariness or concern about a world where machines perform many of the tasks done by humans, according to Pew Research.

The findings have wide-reaching implications for technology companies working in these fields and indicates the need for greater public hand-holding.

“Ordinary Americans are very wary and concerned about the growing trend in automation and place a lot of value in human decision-making,” said Aaron Smith, the author of the research, which surveyed more than 4,000 US adults. “They are not incredibly excited about machines taking over those responsibilities.”

Pew gauged public perception of automation technologies by presenting respondents with four scenarios, including the development of completely driverless cars; a future in which machines replace many human jobs; the possibility of fully autonomous robot carers; and the possibility that a computer program could evaluate and select job candidates with no human oversight .

According to the findings, 72% of Americans are very or somewhat worried about a future where robots and computers are capable of performing many human jobs – more than double the 33% of people who were enthusiastic about the prospect. Seventy-six per cent are concerned that automation of jobs will exacerbate economic inequality and a similar share (75%) anticipate that the economy will not create many new, better-paying jobs for those human workers who lose their jobs to machines.

People are not buying the safety argument about driverless vehicles. There’s widespread concern Aaron Smith, report author

One of the most visible examples of automation that’s likely to disrupt daily life is driverless vehicles. There’s a broad agreement among proponents of the technology that driverless cars will be safer than those driven by humans, who are often distracted, drunk or falling asleep at the wheel.

The American public disagrees.

“People are not buying the safety argument about driverless vehicles,” Smith said. “There’s widespread concern about being on the roads with them, which conflicts with what is consensus in the technology world.”

A slim majority of Americans (54%) express more worry than enthusiasm for the development of driverless vehicles, with 30% expecting that they would lead to an increase in road fatalities. Fifty-six per cent said they would not want to ride in one if given the opportunity, citing a lack of trust in the technology or an unwillingness to cede control to a machine in a potentially life-or-death situation.

Another unexpected finding was the vehement opposition to robots making hiring decisions, despite the fact that such technology is already starting to creep into the hiring process as well as other areas such as assessing individuals for loans or parole from prison. Proponents say that using AI can make these decisions less biased, but the public is not convinced.

A Google self-driving car maneuvers through the streets of in Washington DC. More than half of Americans worry about the technology. Photograph: Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images

Seventy-six per cent of respondents said they would not want to apply for jobs that use such a computer program to make hiring decisions.

“A computer cannot measure the emotional intelligence or intangible assets that many humans have,” said one 22-year-old female respondent. “Not every quality can be quantitatively measured by a computer when hiring someone; there is much more learned by face-to-face interactions.”

Smith said: “It speaks to the general lack of recognition of just how widespread algorithmic decision making is in our lives by the average people in the street.”

The survey also asked people about their attitudes towards existing workforce technologies such as social media, industrial robots and technologies that help customers serve themselves without the assistance of humans. The findings revealed a big split between college educated respondents (typically white collar workers) and those who didn’t attend college (typically blue collar workers).

“White collar workers see tech as something positive that helps them get ahead and has improved their opportunities for career advancement, giving them agency to do their jobs better, make more money and get promotions,” said Smith.

“When we asked the same questions of working class folk, you don’t get the same sense that it’s something that is helpful to them or improves access to career opportunities.”

These social factors play into people’s attitudes towards the coming wave of automation technologies.

“Those folks who are optimistic hope it will take over the dull and boring work we hate and create new categories of work for humans to do,” said Smith, “but the American public does not buy the notion that it will be good for everyone.”

Three-quarters of Americans expect that machines doing human jobs will increase inequality between the rich and the poor.

“They believe that a small number of people do well and everyone else loses their jobs to the robots,” said Smith.