A recent poll found more than half of U.S. workers use some form of artificial intelligence on the job, while a separate one found half of Americans also worry about the technology putting people close to them out of work.

You’re seeing some of that same dissonance in markets right now. Investors who rushed to put their money in AI are suddenly anxious about the cost of hyperscaling, and businesses who adopted AI agents taking out new insurance policies to cover hallucinations.

We’ll have more on all that below, plus the economics of $15 ice cream. But first, let’s dig into what else Americans are worrying about in this economy. — Tony Wagner, newsletter editor

Over the past few months, Baby Boomers’ confidence in the economy has continued its slow march downward, while Gen Z’s has stayed elevated. That’s according to the most recent consumer confidence data from The Conference Board.

The main driver of this trend: 20-year-olds and 70-year-olds are just worried about different things.

The more pessimistic groups are “very concerned about what's happening with healthcare. And they're also very concerned with things like retirement, or, if they are retired, how well are their benefits going to be doing,” said Tom Arnold, who teaches finance at the University of Richmond.

He said young people worry about labor and credit, or their ability to make and spend money.

“The only time that the younger generation really, really gets pessimistic is if there aren't any jobs. But unemployment's at a relative low,” he said.

The job market and credit environment aren’t all that worrisome right now, while healthcare costs keep rising. Hence, the sentiment gap.

The gap is also especially wide in The Conference Board survey because it focuses on the labor market.

“They put a lot of weight on the questions which are about wages or expected wage growth, things like that,” said Camelia Kuhnen, who teaches household finance and labor at the University of North Carolina.

So younger workers appear especially optimistic in this survey, because they see higher wage growth year-to-year than older people, Kuhnen said.

Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon issue earnings reports this week, as investors are showing more concern about how much cash companies are burning building data centers. Alphabet’s stock fell after a great earnings report last week over concerns with its AI spending. How much shareholder pressure would it take to make tech giants blink?

It’s my guilty pleasure: Minnesota’s A to Z Creamery sells $14 pints of ice cream on Instagram — $15.25 with fees. I have to drive two towns over to pick up their weekly “drop,” but I sometimes do because it’s just that good.

I only bring it up because A to Z got a profile on CNN this week (if you hit a paywall here’s a link to the story on Instagram Reels). It turns out super-fancy treats kind of embody this weird economy we’re in right now. Why didn’t I think of that?

A to Z is one of many businesses borne out of pandemic hobbies, and it’s found success even in a “k-shaped” economy. High-income consumers just keep spending, and folks with less income are willing to indulge a bit to support local business, even if a vacation or house isn’t in the budget right now. For what it’s worth: I skipped A to Z’s recent $100 pint made with champagne, caviar and gold leaf.