Beyond the Hype: What People Really Think About AI

Lately, the gap between promise and reality in the AI space has been hard to ignore. Big claims. Constant launches. And an ever-growing sense of fatigue.

At Crescendo, one of our core responsibilities is to articulate what makes us unique – and that understanding doesn’t come from a vacuum. It comes from our visionary leaders and teammates, and is also shaped by the signals, reactions, and tensions we see in the world around us.

This moment feels like a true inflection point, with real implications for how we work and the role humans play in the systems we’re building. As we approached the end of 2025, we found ourselves less interested in adding to the noise and more interested in understanding how people were actually feeling about it all.

Our stance is clear. We believe the strongest outcomes come from combining human intelligence with AI, not replacing people with it. That perspective puts us at odds with many, where removing humans is often the goal. Our focus is different. We care about creating better experiences – for customers and for the teams supporting them.

So we skipped the polished marketing language and headed to the AI Summit in NYC to ask attendees, and people passing by, a simple, honest question:

How do you really feel about AI?

From the hundreds of responses we gathered, we expected more fear and resistance. Instead, we heard something far more nuanced. People were thoughtful. Measured. Cautiously hopeful. There was a shared belief that, while AI is moving fast, humans still have the agency to shape what comes next.

What follows is a snapshot of those conversations. Honest, unfiltered, and deeply human, exactly how we like it. This is a reminder that beyond the hype, people still want a say in what comes next.