What do people really think about AI? Is there a general fear of AI? Dive into our comprehensive AI poll compilation to discover prevailing opinions!

Keep yourself updated on the facts and stats in this complete and regularly updated AI poll compilation.

Public First

Public First is a policy and research consultancy based in the UK. They work on a range of issues including public policy, public opinion research, and communications — and as of late have shifted a heavy focus onto the topic of Artificial Intelligence.

The following statistics are based on a June 2023 poll of just around 2000 nationally represented UK citizens on their opinions of Artificial Intelligence.

• 18% Of Respondents believe AI decreases safety
• 49% Of Respondents believe AI will cause an increase in unemployment
• 39% Of Respondents believe AI is more dangerous than military robots
• 29% Of Respondents believe AI will attempt to overthrow or destroy human civilization
• 20% Of Respondents believe AI will cause some form of breakdown in civilization within 50 years
• 50% Of Respondents believe AI will cause human extinction in the next 100 yearsPerception on AI causing
  63% Of Respondents believe AI tools should be banned during exams
• 41% Of Respondents believe AI tools should be banned during homework
• 61% Of Respondents think it would be impossible to prevent the use of AI tools for homework
• 47% Of Respondents find banning AI tools as pointless as banning calculators
• 15% Of Respondents are scared of AI in one way or another

Axios Review

Axios is a news and analysis company that focuses on business and technology. In August of 2023, they combined a variety of statistics and polls from the last few months to take a look at the demographic differences between the US public opinion on Artificial Intelligence.

Each study varied between 1,600-11,000 participants covering all demographics across the country.

• 72% of Asian Americans or Pacific Islanders had heard of AI-powered chatbots.
• 41% of Black Americans had heard of AI-powered chatbots.
• 33% of Republicans believe AI is having a negative impact on daily life.
• 20% of Democrats believe AI is having a negative impact on daily life.
• 50% of Republicans have a negative view of AI.
• 38% of Democrats have a negative view of AI.
• 64% of 18-29 year-olds are opposed to AI-powered surveillance at work.
• 38% of those 65 and older are opposed to AI-powered surveillance at work.
• 90% of upper-class Americans (incomes above $131,500) would feel inappropriately
• surveilled by AI at work.
• 70% of lower-income Americans would feel inappropriately surveilled by AI at work.
• 64% of consumers with household incomes above $250,000 are unlikely to trust product recommendations from AI.
• 84% with income less than $50,000 are unlikely to trust product recommendations from AI.
• 77% of Baby Boomers are concerned about the increase in the use of AI in health care.
• 63% of millennials are concerned about the increase in the use of AI in health care.

MITRE/Harris Poll Survey

The MITRE Corporation, a non-profit organization that operates US government-sponsored research in areas of national security, healthcare, and cybersecurity, conducted a survey with Harris Poll to better understand public opinion on AI trends.

MITRE-Harris previously has a poll out from November and December 2022, right as ChatGPT came out, analyzing the public opinion on AI. However, that is before widespread generative Artificial Intelligence really took over. As such, they conducted a new survey in July 2023, published this September.

You can still find the 2022 data at the bottom of this article; however, this is updated to reflect the public opinion found by the organization as of July- September 2023.

• 57% of Americans are uncomfortable having an online chat about routine health questions with an AI doctor.
• 58% of Americans are uncomfortable with the federal government using AI for benefits processing
• 61% of Americans do not believe that today’s AI technology is safe and secure
• 80% of Americans are concerned about AI being used for cyberattacks
• 78% of Americans are concerned about AI being used for identity theft
• 76% of Americans are worried about the sale of personal data through AI
• 76% of Americans are concerned about the lack of accountability for those using AI
• 81% of Americans believe that the government and AI industries should invest more into Artificial Intelligence assurance methods
• 70% of Americans are worried about deceptive AI-created political ads
• 52% of Americans are concerned about AI fully replacing them in their job

The Sentience Institute Study

The Sentience Institute is a think tank researching strategies to expand humanity’s moral compass. The goal is to help advocates, philanthropists, and others use evidence and reason to find the most effective ways to ensure humanity moves forward in the kindest way possible.

This study was conducted between April and June 2023 with a sample of 1,099 adults.

• 77% do not trust AI companies to put safety over profits
• 73% do not trust the creators of AI to maintain control of current and future versions
• 63% support banning Artificial General Intelligence development (AI that is smarter than humans)
• 69% support a ban on the development of sentient AIs
• 71% support government regulations to slow down AI development
• 49% feel that Artificial Intelligence development is going too fast

The YouGov/Poll Survey

TheDrum, a digital media and marketing site, teamed up with global opinion and data company YouGov to learn more about the public opinions on AI in the creative sector. The survey-based study was conducted January 10-13, 2023, with 2,105 respondents from around the United States.

Using the same methodology as MITRE & Harris, the panel was probability-based and aimed to be as accurate a representation of the U.S. population as possible in terms of age, gender, race, and education using stratified sampling and weighting techniques.

• 36% of respondents were worried that AI could be used to manipulate public opinion and elections.
• 33% of respondents were concerned about the use of AI-generated content for propaganda and disinformation.
• 25% of respondents said they were concerned about the potential for AI to be used in cyberbullying and harassment.
• 42% of respondents believed that AI could pose a threat to humanity.
• 28% of respondents believed that AI could lead to a loss of human control over technology.
• 23% of respondents believed that AI could be programmed to harm people.

The University of Oxford

The Center for the Governance of AI, under the umbrella of the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford, embarked on a comprehensive study to discern American public attitudes towards AI and its governance.

The study, conducted between June 6 and 14, 2018, engaged a nationally representative cohort of 2,000 American adults combined with a comparable EU population.

Perception of Risks

• 80% of Americans agree that AI and/or robots should be carefully managed.
• 88% of EU citizens agree with the same sentiment.
• Americans perceive all global risks to be between a moderate and severe impact.
• AI Weapons of mass destruction are perceived as the most impactful
• Americans believe there’s a 49% likelihood of AI weapons of mass destruction being used within 10 years.
• 12% of Americans believe high-level machine intelligence could lead to human extinction.
• 21% believe its impact will be “on balance bad.”
• The median expectation for the emergence of high-level machine intelligence within the next 10 years is 54%.
• 50% of Americans in 2017 were unfamiliar with AI
• Only 9% of the British public in 2017 had heard of “machine learning”
• 85% of Americans use AI-deployed digital products.

AI Opinions Based on Demographics

Gender

• Globally
  • 46% of women in EU countries viewed AI negatively.
  • 33% of men in EU countries viewed AI negatively
• In the U.S.
  • 44% of women perceived AI as unsafe.
  • 30% of men perceived AI as unsafe (Source: Morning Consult 2017).

Education

• In the U.S.
  • 32% of Americans with no college education felt that technology increased opportunities for advancement.
  • 47% of Americans with a college degree felt the opposite
  • 62% of post-graduates felt automation will severely hurt American workers
  • Only 19% of those with less than a college degree felt the same way
• In the EU
  • Overall, those with more years of education were more positive about AI’s societal benefits and less concerned about AI taking jobs compared to those with fewer years of education.

Reuters

Reuters is one of the largest and most prominent global news agencies in the world, and provides a plethora of coverage, analysis, and reporting on a wide variety of topics. They’re well-versed in the development of AI. The data below is from May 2023 study with just around 4500 Americans.

• 61% of respondents believe that AI poses risks to humanity.
• 22% of respondents disagreed that AI poses risks to humanity.
• 17% of respondents were unsure about the risks of AI.
• 70% of Trump voters agreed that AI could threaten humankind.
• 60% of Joe Biden voters agreed that AI could threaten humankind.
• 32% of Evangelical Christians “strongly agree” that AI presents risks to humanity.
• 24% of non-Evangelical Christians “strongly agree” that AI presents risks to humanity.
• 77% of Americans support increasing police funding to fight crime.
• 82% of Americans are worried about the risk of a recession as a result of AI

ToolTester Study

ToolTester, a global review company, conducted a study in collaboration with ChatGPT this year where 1,920 Americans across all age ranges. The study was conducted February 20-26 2023, and participants were given 10 sample texts to determine whether they were produced by a human or an AI system, with follow-up questions based on AI trust.

• 38% of respondents said they were concerned about the use of AI-generated text, with 16% expressing strong concern.
• 27% of respondents were worried about the use of AI-generated content for fraud and scams.
• 19% of respondents were worried about the use of AI-generated content for cybercrime.
• 71% of respondents would trust an online publisher less if they used AI for content without telling readers
• The topics that were most difficult for respondents to distinguish between human-generated and AI-generated text were “fitness and health” and “travel and tourism,” with success rates of 58% and 61%, respectively.

The Office of National Statistics Study

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest independent producer of official statistics and its recognized national statistical institute. They collect and publish statistics related to the economy, population and general society.

This particular study was based off reports from 12,511 people 16 years and over in Great Britain, spanning several waves of reports between July 26 and October 1st, 2023.

• 36% do not think AI could have a positive impact on their lives.
• 72% are concerned about the use of personal data without consent.
• 68% worry about difficulty in discerning fake news or information.
• 60% believe there is an increased chance of experiencing cybercrime due to AI.
• 83% of adults can’t tell when they are using or consuming AI.
• Those with a degree (22%) are more likely to recognize AI use.
• 55% of those aged 70+ hardly ever or never recognize AI use.
• 28% of adults think AI brings greater risks than benefits.
• Only 14% believe AI has more benefits than risks.
• 32% feel AI could put their jobs at risk.
• The risk is particularly felt by those in administrative and secretarial (43%) and sales and customer service (41%) roles.

Monmouth Study

Monmouth University in New Jersey conducted a national telephone survey on February 10-14, 2023 calling 810 US adults aged 18 or older. The study focused on the general American public opinion regarding the development and prevalence of Artificial Intelligence today.

• 26% of Americans think that AI is a bad thing for society
• 37% of Americans are concerned about AI taking jobs away from humans
• 32% of Americans are concerned about AI making decisions without human input
• 40% of Americans are concerned about AI being used for military purposes
• 37% of Americans are concerned about AI being used for surveillance purposes
• 31% of Americans are concerned about AI being used to influence political campaigns
• 48% of Americans are concerned about AI being used to create fake news or misleading information
• 52% of Americans think that AI is advancing faster than society’s ability to understand and control it
• 63% of Americans think that there should be more regulation of AI development and use

FiveThirtyEight Poll Compilation

FiveThirtyEight is a statistical analysis news and data journalism website that compares relevant studies to better reflect Americans’ opinions on a variety of subjects. These statistics are pulled from a February 2023 article from the post-ChatGPT boom.

• 62% of Americans are either somewhat or very concerned about the development of AI.
• 53% of Americans are not excited about the development of AI.
• 38% of Americans think that the development of AI will mostly harm humans.
• 67% of Americans believe that AI will take over most human jobs within the next 50 years.
• 34% of Americans believe that AI will definitely or probably be able to create art indistinguishable from that created by humans within the next 20 years.
• 45% of Americans believe that AI will be capable of human-level language understanding within the next 20 years.
• 47% of Americans believe that AI will be capable of human-level speech recognition within the next 20 years.
• 29% of Americans believe that AI will lead to the loss of jobs that we cannot yet imagine.
• 54% of Americans think that the government should regulate the development of AI

Gallup-Northeastern

Gallup Northeastern is the partnership between the polling and analytics company Gallup and the private search university out of Boston, Northeastern. The partnership involves collaboration in the conduction of research, surveys, and studies on various topics of public opinion, social issues – and in this case, Artificial Intelligence. The data below is from 2017.

• 76% of Americans agree that AI will fundamentally change the way people work and live in the next 10 years.
• 77% of Americans who anticipate this change are mostly or very positive about the impact AI will have.
• 73% of adults believe that increased use of AI will eliminate more jobs than it creates.
• 82% of blue-collar workers and 71% of white-collar workers think the transition to AI will result in a net job loss.
• 23% of employed adults are somewhat or very worried about losing their job to new technology.
• 28% of those with less than a four-year college degree express this concern compared to 15% of those with a bachelor’s degree or more.
• 49% of Americans believe soft skills like teamwork, communication, creativity, and critical thinking are most important for workers to cultivate to avoid job loss to AI.
• 51% of Americans believe hard skills like math, science, coding, and data work are most important for job maintenance in the face of new technology.
• 51% of employed U.S. adults agree that they would need additional training to secure a new position at an equivalent salary.
• Similar agreement levels found among both white-collar (52%) and blue-collar (50%) workers.
• 18% of employed Americans are extremely confident they could secure additional training, and 25% are confident.
• 51% of white-collar workers and 53% of those with a bachelor’s degree or more are confident or extremely confident in securing needed education.
• 49% of employed Americans would look for on-the-job training or other opportunities provided by their employers for skills needed for a similar job.
• 21% would seek in-person educational programs at colleges and universities.
• 16% would consider online educational or training programs at universities and colleges.

Pew Research Center Study

The Pew Research Center is a non-partisan research firm that focuses its studies on social issues, especially pertaining to technology in society today. This study in particular discussed Americans’ opinions before Artificial Intelligence. The study surveyed 10,260 U.S adults back in November 2021.

• 53% of respondents have heard at least something about AI.
• 23% of respondents believe that AI will have a mostly negative impact on society.
• 80% of respondents believe that AI will automate most jobs in the future.
• 64% of respondents believe that the increased use of AI will exacerbate economic inequality.
• 66% of respondents believe that AI will lead to increased privacy violations.
• 62% of respondents believe that AI will lead to increased discrimination.
• 50% of respondents believe that AI will surpass human intelligence within the next 50 years.
• 51% of respondents believe that AI should be regulated more strictly than it currently is.
• 63% of respondents believe that AI should be developed primarily for the public good, even if it means slowing down its development.

For more information based on the statistics you see here, check out our blog for an in-depth discussion on the consequences of widespread Artificial Intelligence.

Citizen Data Survey

Citizen Data is a research firm that delves into issues that have a direct effect on democracy, focusing on public opinion and educational initiatives around topics like Artificial Intelligence. They conduct nationwide surveys to understand public attitudes, providing insights into societal trends.

While exact details of their methodology unfortunately aren’t referenced, firms like Citizen Data typically use a blend of quantitative and qualitative research techniques.

Since the data doesn’t provide methodology, please keep in mind that these numbers are not as trustworthy as the others provided in this collection.75% of Americans support Congress creating laws that place limits on artificial intelligence.

• 66% of Americans agree that AI platforms will lead to more false or misleading information influencing democratic processes.
• 57% of Americans are dissatisfied with AI’s part in democracy
• 44% of Americans believe that AI technology is harmful to democracy
• 23% of Americans have no opinion

Morning Consult Axios Partnership Survey

Morning Consult is a global company specializing in decision intelligence and custom market research. We did not get access to the methodology behind the current statistics except that it was conducted on US adults only, so keep that in mind when analyzing their data. However, they have proven to be a trustworthy source in the past.

• 25% anticipate AI making their life worse.
• 25% are unsure about what to expect from AI.
• 67% are concerned other countries will use AI to gain a technological advantage over the U.S.
• 50% are worried about AI taking their job or the job of someone they rely on.
• 23% think AI will make their job harder.
• 41% are concerned about AI negatively impacting trust in candidate advertisements for U.S. elections
• 40% are concerned about AI negatively impacting trust in U.S. election outcomes
• 58% believe misinformation spread by AI will impact the 2024 presidential election,

OUTDATED: MITRE/Harris 2022 SURVEY

The data below is from a study that lasted from November 22, 2022 (a week before the release of ChatGPT) to December 12, 2022. The study was conducted online with 2,019 respondents from around the United States. The panel was probability-based and aimed to be as accurate a representation of the U.S. population as possible in terms of age, gender, race, and education using stratified sampling and weighting techniques.

• 59% of Americans expressed concern about the potential for bias and discrimination in AI decision-making.
• 35% of Americans said they were worried about the potential for AI to be used in cyberattacks.
• 58% of respondents expressed concerns about the use of AI in autonomous weapons systems, with 44% saying they strongly opposed such use.
• 43% of Americans said they were worried about AI replacing human jobs.
• 36% of Americans said they were concerned about the impact of AI on personal privacy and data protection.
• According to the MITRE/Harris Poll survey, 24% of Americans are concerned about the loss of human jobs due to AI, automation, and robotics.
• 18% of Americans are concerned about the impact of AI on the environment, such as increased energy consumption and electronic waste.