People in a group of mostly middle-income countries are more likely to trust China than the United States or European Union to regulate artificial intelligence effectively, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
Across 12 countries, a median of 43% said they trust China to regulate AI, compared with 35% who trust the United States and 34% who trust the European Union. The findings mark a reversal from a separate 25-country survey conducted in 2025, when respondents generally placed the EU first, followed by the United States and China.
Trust varies widely by country
China ranked as the most trusted outside regulator in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Singaporeans placed equal trust in China and the EU, while respondents in Chile and Thailand rated China, the United States and the EU at roughly similar levels.
In Ghana, Peru and Colombia, trust in the United States and China was about even. The Philippines was the only country in the group where respondents trusted the United States more than both China and the EU.
The survey also asked people whether they trust their own national government to regulate AI. In six of the 12 places surveyed, respondents trusted their own country more than any of the three major international powers.
Confidence in domestic regulation was highest in Pakistan and Bangladesh, where about eight in 10 adults expressed trust. By contrast, roughly four in 10 or fewer said the same in Chile, Colombia, Peru, and the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Some countries also recorded substantial uncertainty. About a quarter or more of adults in Malaysia, Colombia, and the West Bank and East Jerusalem said they were unsure whether their own government could regulate AI effectively.
Views of countries shape confidence
Pew found a strong link between respondents' broader views of a country or institution and their confidence in its ability to oversee AI. In Peru, for example, 57% of people with a favorable view of China said they trusted it to regulate the technology, compared with 26% among those with an unfavorable view.
Awareness of AI also played a role. People who had heard or read more about the technology were often more willing to trust foreign governments or the EU to regulate it, while those with less familiarity were more likely to say they were unsure.
In Sri Lanka, 76% of adults who had heard or read a lot about AI said they trusted the EU as a regulator. That figure fell to 44% among those who had heard or read less about the technology.
The AI-regulation findings are based on responses from 13,696 adults in the 12 countries surveyed between Feb. 8 and May 13, 2026. They are part of a broader Pew project that surveyed 42,151 people in 36 countries about artificial intelligence.
Pew said its international surveys used a mix of telephone, face-to-face and online interviews. The countries included in the regulation analysis were largely classified as middle income by the World Bank, a factor the researchers noted when comparing the results with earlier surveys that included more high-income countries.
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