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Technology Technology The Big Story
Americans’ concerns about AI outweigh excitement
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.
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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.”
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com
Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, we’re Julia Shapero and Miranda Nazzaro — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.
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