What happens when society embraces a technology faster than it can absorb its consequences? In the United States, AI adoption is growing at a remarkable pace. As of December 2025, 32 percent of large U.S. firms had integrated AI into production or core administrative workflows, roughly double the rate from a year earlier. Private, non-work use of AI hit 48.7 percent in late 2025, a 35 percent growth off already one of the highest individual adoption rates in the world. Yet the public mood is