Exciting, Useful, Worrying, Futuristic: Public Perception of Artificial Intelligence in 8 Countries
This study addresses the need for understanding public opinion on AI to inform adoption, development, funding, and regulation, but it is incremental as it extends existing survey-based research to a broader international context.
The paper surveyed 10,005 respondents across eight countries to assess public perceptions of AI, finding widespread belief in its significant societal impact and strong support for responsible development, with sentiment characterized by four key themes (exciting, useful, worrying, futuristic) that vary by country.
As the influence and use of artificial intelligence (AI) have grown and its transformative potential has become more apparent, many questions have been raised regarding the economic, political, social, and ethical implications of its use. Public opinion plays an important role in these discussions, influencing product adoption, commercial development, research funding, and regulation. In this paper we present results of an in-depth survey of public opinion of artificial intelligence conducted with 10,005 respondents spanning eight countries and six continents. We report widespread perception that AI will have significant impact on society, accompanied by strong support for the responsible development and use of AI, and also characterize the public's sentiment towards AI with four key themes (exciting, useful, worrying, and futuristic) whose prevalence distinguishes response to AI in different countries.