Most people in the world who use AI feel good about the technology and believe it will be a net positive for the future, according to a new study from Gallup.
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it → use → Gallup
This is not the case in the United States, however, which is one of the few countries surveyed where negative emotions towards AI outweigh the positive.
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emotions → survey → positive
The new survey from Gallup and Microsoft polled people in 37 different countries about AI.
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survey → poll → AI
“The study, which will ultimately cover 140 countries, measures public engagement with AI across five dimensions.
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which → cover → dimensions
In addition to emotional response, the survey captures awareness, frequency of use, expected impact and trust,” the study said.
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study → capture → use
Most people polled — a median of 81% — were aware AI tools exist, but only a median of 43% used them daily.
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median → poll → them
Gallup told 404 Media it defined a “daily user” as an employed person who used AI everyday for either work or personal reasons or an unemployed person who used the tech every day.
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who → tell → tech
The study found that people had a mixed, but generally optimistic, view of artificial intelligence.
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people → find → intelligence
“AI engagement can be viewed as an adoption ladder, moving from awareness to ever having used AI and then to more frequent use,” the survey said.
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survey → view → use
Generally — but not always — the more someone used AI the more they trusted its results, the more positive they felt towards it, and the more they believed it would help make a better future.
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it → use → future
Digging in, however, the results are more complicated.
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results → dig → ?
Some people who reported positive feelings towards AI also said they didn’t trust its results.
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they → report → results
“People may therefore see considerable potential in AI even while remaining uncertain about whether they can rely on the information it provides,” the survey said.
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survey → see → information
Daily users tended to trust AI “to provide accurate information,” according to the study.
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users → tend → study
“The survey cannot establish whether greater trust leads people to use AI more often, whether experience with AI builds trust, or both.
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experience → establish → trust
But the strength and consistency of the relationship suggest that trust and adoption are connected.”
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trust → suggest → relationship
Globally, most people surveyed felt good about AI and expected to improve their country.
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people → survey → country
As AI adoption increased in a country, so too did positive feelings.
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feelings → increase → country
But not in the United States, which was one of only three countries surveyed where negative emotions towards AI outweighed the positive.
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emotions → survey → positive
Pablo Diego-Rosell, a senior scientist at Gallup, told 404 Media that he’d seen similar results in other western countries.
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he → tell → countries
“The Netherlands, Canada, the U.K., New Zealand, Ireland and Malta all rank near the top in terms of worry,” he said.
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he → rank → worry
He noted that he hasn’t seen survey results from some of the bigger European countries like Germany and France but said that worrying about AI “appears to be a uniquely Western phenomenon.”
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worrying → note → AI
Gallup called this the “Paradox of the Worried West.”
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Gallup → call → West
We see a very strong relationship between frequent AI use, greater trust and lower worry, but we do not know which direction that relationship runs,” Diego-Rosell said.
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Rosell → see → use
“Does experience with AI make people more comfortable with it, or are people who already trust AI simply more willing to use it?”
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who → make → it
“There is also a broader question about what trust in AI actually means.
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trust → be → AI
In this study, we measure one specific dimension: whether people trust AI to provide accurate information,” he added.
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he → measure → information
“But trust in AI can also involve whether people believe it is reliable, safe, fair, transparent, protective of privacy, and likely to act in ways that serve their interests.
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that → involve → interests
The west didn’t have a monopoly on negative emotions towards AI, however.
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west → have → AI
The other two countries where negative emotions towards the technology outweighed the positive were Egypt and Palestine.
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emotions → outweigh → positive
“One possibility is that these results partly reflect the broader emotional context in which people are evaluating AI.
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people → reflect → AI
When people are living in environments where worry, stress or other negative emotions are already elevated, some of that broader emotional climate may shape how they react to a technology like AI,” Diego-Rosell said.
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Rosell → live → AI
“At the same time, our data do not allow us to determine how much of the response is specific to AI versus the wider circumstances people are experiencing.
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people → allow → circumstances
It’s possible that people in the US, Egypt, and Palestine are already anxious and worried and that this is coloring their perception of AI.
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this → ’ → AI
Israel is waging war on Palestine, settling in its territory, and using AI to pick targets to bomb in Gaza.
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Israel → wag → Gaza
Americans — where much of AI is built and first deployed — have been repeatedly told in the past few months by AI evangelists and company insiders that the technology could, literally, end all life on Earth.
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technology → build → Earth
The constant stream of news stories about AI swarms “breaking containment” while AI experts claim there’s a one in ten chance the technology kills everyone on the planet probably had a hand in altering the American mood.
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technology → break → mood
“The broader story is that public engagement with AI is much more complicated than simply being ‘for’ or ‘against’ it,” Diego-Rosell said.
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Rosell → say → it
“People who are aware of AI are more likely to expect it to help than harm, and positive emotions outweigh negative ones.
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emotions → expect → ones
At the same time, trust in AI’s accuracy is considerably lower than optimism about its potential, and worry remains widespread in some countries.
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worry → remain → countries
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
