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Americans are nearly three times as likely to be concerned rather than excited about the growing footprint of artificial intelligence in society, according to a new biweekly survey about the public’s sentiment on the advancing technology.
The “Americans on AI” poll, first shared with The Hill by the new nonprofit Athena Insights, found the majority of Americans already have opinions on AI, regardless of their level of interactions with the technology.
This pattern was evident when asked how respondents feel about AI’s “growing role” in society.
According to the poll, 28 percent of the 1,814 participants said they were “very concerned,” while 37 percent were “somewhat concerned.” On the other side, 6 percent said they were “very excited” and 18 percent said they were “somewhat excited.”
Only 1 percent did not have an answer, while 9 percent felt the options were not close to their feelings.
These results were notably similar across political parties, even as Democratic and Republican policymakers in Washington differ on how to tackle these concerns.
The survey, which will be administered every other week for the next year, aims to measure the changes in people’s opinion on AI over time, rather than as a standalone poll, Colin Hyatt Bortner, the research lead for Athena Insights, told The Hill Monday.
“We tried to develop a very neutral instrument on the theory that to the extent that AI is having an impact on people, and that impact is negative, that will then show up in the data, and then that will drive a policy response,” Bortner said.
“And to the extent that it’s good … we also ask about the likelihood that AI will help medical and scientific advances or if it’ll help improve healthcare,” he added. “So the extent we’re starting to see these show up, that’s a really big sign too.”
Several polls have tested similar opinions this year, but Bortner argued many of these have come from safety or industry-aligned groups that may have a motive to just get a sentiment of the day, or fulfill a bigger narrative.
The survey is fielded at NORC at the University of Chicago, in partnership with Early Studies, a market research firm based in London. The next results, with the same five questions, will drop on July 15.
Respondents were asked a range of questions, from how many benefits and downsides they see AI bringing to different sectors to how the government is handling regulation of the technology.
AI is touching nearly every sector of society, and the majority of respondents expressed a lack of control over how much presence it has in society.
About 70 percent said AI is coming into their lives whether they want it or not, while 15 percent chose “people like me can shape how much AI is part of our lives,” according to the poll. About 14 percent said neither answer represents their sentiment, and 2 percent had no answer.
People are also having trouble distinguishing what is real because of AI. About 70 percent of respondents stating they are struggling with this distinction, the poll said.
By nearly 20 percentage points, the survey also found more Americans do not think the government is doing enough for AI’s effects on children and young people, the environment, and workers and jobs.
While sentiment over concerns and excitement was similar across political parties, they broke on how they view the government’s actions on AI-related harms.
Republicans and Democrats mostly agreed AI is making job security worse, but Democrats were more likely to say the government is not doing enough to help workers by 21 percentage points, and the environment by 19 percentage points.
Still, the majority of divisions on answers came from the age and gender categories, rather than race or political party, researchers noted. Americans older than 50 are the most concerned, most resigned and most supportive of government action. Meanwhile, women are more concerned than men overall.
As more surveys are collected, researchers hope the results can help policymakers, journalists and the public understand Americans’ perception of the technology.
“If you’re having kind of a big, public policy fight, when push comes to shove, it’s much more helpful if you have the public on your side and then that helps you figure out how you position yourself, how you argue,” Bornter said.
Policymakers in Washington have introduced dozens of bills to do more about AI, and its potential impact on the workforce, environment and national security. But poltics, and procedural hurdles have prevented most AI-related legislation from getting across the finish line.
This first poll was conducted among 1,814 Americans surveyed June 24-29. The results have a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
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