AI Overtakes Climate Change as the World's Top Risk, AXA Survey Finds

AXA Group's 2026 Future Risks Report, based on a survey of 4,345 insurance and risk professionals across 62 countries, found that artificial intelligence and big data have displaced climate change as the primary global concern among experts for the first time since the survey began tracking the issue. AI jumped three places, from fourth to first, driven chiefly by worries over human-rights violations, data misuse, and algorithmic bias. Climate change fell to second place, followed by geopolitical instability, cybersecurity, and the energy crisis. The general public still views climate change as the biggest threat, but AI climbed from seventh to second in public rankings year-over-year, signalling rapid shifts in perception. Only 9 percent of expert respondents believe governments are adequately prepared for rapidly growing AI risks, while 85 percent think preventive measures could meaningfully reduce major risks. Korean respondents bucked the global trend by ranking cybersecurity second nationally. The report underscores growing consensus that AI governance is lagging dangerously behind technological development.