Key Findings

Eighty-two percent of respondents care about the ethics of AI.

Do you care whether AI is ethical or not?

A1 Yes                                                    82%

A2 No                                                    18%

 

The vast majority of respondents care about AI being ethical. The fact that one in five do not care if AI is ethical might indicate some skepticism towards the concept of ethics or its applicability to AI.

 

 

 

 

Two thirds of respondents are concerned about the impact of AI on the human race.

How concerned are you that AI will have a negative impact on the human race?

A1 Very concerned                                   22%

A2 Somewhat concerned                        46%

A3 Not really concerned                         25%

A4 I don’t have an opinion                     7%

 

Sixty-eight percent of respondents are somewhat or very concerned about the negative impact of AI on the human race, compared to one in four who are unconcerned.

 

 

 

Eighty-six percent of those surveyed believe AI companies should be regulated.

Should the technology companies developing AI be regulated?

A1 Yes                                                    86%

A2 No                                                    14%

In one of the strongest results of the survey, about 6 out of 7 of those polled agree that companies developing AI should be regulated.

 

Eight in 10 respondents believe the government should create clearer AI regulations.

Do you think the federal government should create clearer regulations around the development and use of AI?

A1 Yes                                                   83%

A2 No                                                    17%

In one of the clearest results in the survey, more than four in five of those surveyed think that the federal government should have a role in creating clearer regulations around AI.

 

Over half (55%) of those surveyed believe AI companies are not considering ethics when developing AI.

Do you think the companies developing AI are considering ethics while designing the technology?

A1 Yes                                                    45%

A2 No                                                     55%

Those polled show their skepticism towards ethical thinking in AI companies. While many companies developing AI do have people thinking about ethics (see, for example, these case studies: IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce), the public either does not know about these efforts, does not find them to be widespread practices, or does not find them to be effective.

 

 

Just over half don’t trust AI companies.

Do you trust the companies that are creating AI?

A1 Yes, completely                                   8%

A2 Somewhat                                           41%

A3 Not really                                             38%

A4 Absolutely not                                     13%

This question divided those surveyed almost evenly, with 49% of those polled trusting AI companies somewhat or completely, and 51% not really or absolutely not trusting AI companies.

 

Seventy percent of those surveyed believe AI companies should take a break to consider safety.

Should the companies developing AI technology temporarily stop to allow time to consider its impact on society?

A1 Yes                                                    70%

A2 No                                                    30%

Interestingly, and in alignment with the Future of Life Institute’s letter calling to Pause Giant AI Experiments, seven in 10 agree that AI development should be temporarily stopped so that its social impacts might be considered. 

 

 

---

AI’s Impact on Elections

Twenty-eight percent of those surveyed believe AI will negatively impact access to accurate information regarding the election, while 21% say it will have a positive impact.

Are you concerned that AI will impact your access to accurate information regarding the upcoming presidential election?

A1 Yes, I think AI will negatively impact my access to accurate information           28%

A2 Yes, I think AI will positively impact my access to information                           21%

A3 No, I don’t think AI will have an impact                                                                 27%

A4 I’m not sure                                                                                                              24%

Those polled were fairly evenly split on this issue, with more than a quarter uncertain. More respondents, however, assume AI would have a more negative than positive impact on access to accurate information, but the slight majority assumed either that there would be no impact or were unsure.

Forty-six percent of respondents believe AI will dilute trust in elections.

Do you believe the use of AI will have a positive or negative impact on the public's trust in elections?

A1 Positive                                                                                         20%

A2 Negative                                                                                      46%

A3 I don’t think it will have an impact on elections                     34%

Nearly half of those surveyed think that AI will negatively impact public trust in elections. Still, one in three assume there will be no impact.

Forty-five percent of those polled believe AI will harm society.

 

Do you think AI will overall help society or overall harm society?

A1  Help                                                      55%

A2 Harm                                                    45%

 

This question shows another split between those who perceive the positives and negatives of AI. Most of those polled think AI will be overall helpful to society, while a substantial minority (45%) think AI will harm society.

 

 

One in three respondents believe AI will take over the world.

Do you think AI might take over the world and destroy humanity?

A1 Yes                                               32%

A2 No                                               68%

 

While in the previous question, 45% of respondents believed that AI would be overall harmful, here we see that 32% believe that AI might destroy humanity. However, respondents are overall optimistic by a 2 to 1 margin against the idea that AI might take over the world and destroy humanity.

 

Sixty-five percent of survey respondents believe AI does NOT have a negative impact on the environment.

Do you believe AI has a negative impact on the environment?

A1 Yes                                                    35%

A2 No                                                    65%

 

AI uses a tremendous amount of energy and water resources, yet almost two in three respondents do not believe that AI has a significant impact on the environment. 

 

 

Forty-three percent of those surveyed believe that AI has reduced trust in  information found on the Internet.

Has the rise of AI made you more or less trustful of information on the internet?

A1 More                                        13%

A2 Less                                        44%

A3 The Same                              43%

 

Very few respondents are more trustful of information on the internet than they were before the rise of AI, while 44% are less trustful and 43% remain unfazed.

 

One third of those surveyed fear Generative AI most; nearly 20% fear robots. 

From the following options, which emerging technology concerns you the most?

A1 Autonomous vehicles                         16%

A2 Generative AI                                      33%

A3 Drones                                                   8%

A4 Facial recognition                                15%

A5 Robots                                                  18%

A6 None                                                     10%

 

 

Generative AI raises the most concern among several emerging technologies, while robots, autonomous vehicles, and facial recognition also strike concern to a lesser degree.

 

 

Three in four respondents believe humans & robots can not have relationships.

Can humans have meaningful relationships (romantic or friendly) with AI and/or robots?

A1 Yes                                                    25%

A2 No                                                    75%

 

 

Seventy-five percent of those surveyed feel that meaningful relationships with AI and/or robots were not possible.

 

Positive Impact of AI

More than half of those surveyed have used AI-powered tools such as ChatGPT, while 45% have not.

Have you used any of the new AI-powered tools recently introduced (i.e. ChatGPT, Claude, Bard, LLaMA, Midjourney, Dall-E, etc.)?

A1 Yes, regularly                             15%

A2 Yes, sometimes                          23%

A3 Yes, once or twice                      17%

A4 No                                                45%

Interestingly, 45% of survey respondents have never used any of the generative AI systems now available, while 55% have at least tried one of these new systems.

 

Nearly half of respondents believe AI currently has a positive impact on their lives.

Do you believe AI currently has an impact on your life and the information you consume?

A1 Yes, AI has a positive impact            48%

A2 Yes, AI has a negative impact          20%

A3 No, AI has no impact                         32%

Forty-eight percent of those surveyed think that AI has a positive impact on their lives, while 20% say it has a negative impact. One third believe they are not impacted by AI.

 

Nearly half of those surveyed are excited about the potential of AI.

Which of the following best describes your feelings about the future of AI technology?

A1 I’m very excited about the potential                                                 18%

A2 I’m somewhat excited about the potential                                      27%

A3 I’m neither excited or concerned                                                     20%

A4 I’m somewhat concerned about the potential negative impact   22%

A5 I’m very concerned about the potential negative impact             13%

Forty-five percent of respondents are somewhat or very excited about the potential of AI, while just over one-third (35%) were somewhat or very concerned about the potential negative impact.

 

---

AI on the job

Nearly three in five feel AI could help them do their jobs better.

Do you think AI could potentially help you do your job better or more efficiently?

A1 Yes                                               58%

A2 No                                               42%

 

Fifty-eight percent of respondents believe that AI might help them in their jobs.

 

 

 

Three in 10 are concerned AI may take over their job.

Are you concerned about AI taking over your job?

A1 Very concerned                                     9%

A2 Somewhat concerned                        21%

A3 Not really concerned                         24%

A4 Not concerned at all                          22%

A5 I don’t currently have a job              24%

Almost half of those polled (46%) say they are either not really concerned or not concerned at all about AI taking over their job. However, over 30% of respondents are either somewhat or very concerned about this prospect, a significant percentage that may influence the rate of adoption.