Infographic – U.S. More Concerned Than Excited About A.I.

(Pew Research Center)

18 Feb. 2023. A survey of U.S. adults conducted late last year shows more Americans express concerns than enthusiasm about artificial intelligence in their daily lives. The poll was conducted by the Pew Research Center to gauge levels of awareness, understanding, and support for A.I. among Americans in their homes, work, and day-to-day living.

The Pew Center researchers first measured levels of awareness of A.I. applications emerging in the past few years, such as wearable fitness tracker assessments of activity, chatbots, and email spam filters, and categorizing respondents into high, medium, or low awareness groups. The survey later asked if respondents are more excited or concerned about the increasing presence of A.I. in their lives, with only 15 percent overall expressing more excitement than concern. Nearly half of Americans (46%) feel equally excited and concerned, and roughly four in 10 (38%) more concerned than excited.

Even among Americans highly aware of A.I. applications, only about two in 10 (21%) say they’re more excited than concerned about the increased presence of A.I. in their lives, with that proportion dropping among those less aware of A.I. The Pew researchers say these levels of awareness and concern have not changed since last year when they conducted a similar poll.

Overall, say the researchers, three in 10 American adults (30%) can correctly identify the six common A.I. applications in the poll and are rated highly aware, while nearly four in 10 (38%) respondents can identify three to five applications, and about three in 10 respondents (31%) only two or fewer of the items. Those highly aware of A.I. in the survey tend to be male and younger (age 18 to 50), with university degrees, higher incomes, and greater Internet use. Political preference plays less of a role on this question, with roughly equal numbers of Republicans (28%) and Democrats (34%) demonstrating high awareness of A.I.

Pew Research Center conducted the survey online with 11,004 U.S. adults taking part in the Center’s American Trends Panel from 12 to 18 Dec. 2022. Participants are recruited through national random sampling of U.S. households, with results weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population.

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