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Public Perception of AI: Sentiment and Opportunity

Jayshree Seth

TL;DR

Despite the general sentiment among the global public that AI will replace workers, if a company were to use AI to innovate to improve lives, the public would be more likely to think highly of the company, purchase from them and even be interested in a job in that company.

Abstract

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) increasingly influences various aspects of society, there is growing public interest in its potential benefits and risks. In this paper we present results of public perception of AI from a survey conducted with 10,000 respondents spanning ten countries in four continents around the world. The results show that currently an equal percentage of respondents who believe AI will change the world as we know it, also believe AI needs to be heavily regulated. However, our findings also indicate that despite the general sentiment among the global public that AI will replace workers, if a company were to use AI to innovate to improve lives, the public would be more likely to think highly of the company, purchase from them and even be interested in a job in that company. Our results further reveal that the global public largely views AI as a tool for problem solving. These nuanced results underscore the importance of AI directed towards challenges that the public would like science and technology-based innovations to address. We draw on a multi-year 3M study of public perception of science to provide further context on what the public perceives as important problems to be solved.

Public Perception of AI: Sentiment and Opportunity

TL;DR

Despite the general sentiment among the global public that AI will replace workers, if a company were to use AI to innovate to improve lives, the public would be more likely to think highly of the company, purchase from them and even be interested in a job in that company.

Abstract

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) increasingly influences various aspects of society, there is growing public interest in its potential benefits and risks. In this paper we present results of public perception of AI from a survey conducted with 10,000 respondents spanning ten countries in four continents around the world. The results show that currently an equal percentage of respondents who believe AI will change the world as we know it, also believe AI needs to be heavily regulated. However, our findings also indicate that despite the general sentiment among the global public that AI will replace workers, if a company were to use AI to innovate to improve lives, the public would be more likely to think highly of the company, purchase from them and even be interested in a job in that company. Our results further reveal that the global public largely views AI as a tool for problem solving. These nuanced results underscore the importance of AI directed towards challenges that the public would like science and technology-based innovations to address. We draw on a multi-year 3M study of public perception of science to provide further context on what the public perceives as important problems to be solved.
Paper Structure (16 sections, 49 figures)

This paper contains 16 sections, 49 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Background
  3. Survey Details
  4. Results
  5. Discussion
  6. Conclusion
  7. Acknowledgements
  8. 2023 SOSI 6
  9. 2022 SOSI 5
  10. 2021 SOSI 4
  11. 2020 SOSI 3

Figures (49)

  • Figure : Figure 1A: General population responses for “To what extent are you integrating AI into your work environment and process (i.e. using AI to write emails or basic code, generating content using AI, etc.)?” (Question 23 from the 2024 3M State of Science Insights)
  • Figure : Figure 1B: Responses grouped by gender for “To what extent are you integrating AI into your work environment and process (i.e. using AI to write emails or basic code, generating content using AI, etc.)?” (Question 23 from the 2024 3M State of Science Insights)
  • Figure : Figure 1C: Responses grouped by age for “To what extent are you integrating AI into your work environment and process (i.e. using AI to write emails or basic code, generating content using AI, etc.)?” (Question 23 from the 2024 3M State of Science Insights)
  • Figure : Figure 1D: Responses for employed subset for “To what extent are you integrating AI into your work environment and process (i.e. using AI to write emails or basic code, generating content using AI, etc.)?” (Question 23 from the 2024 3M State of Science Insights)
  • Figure : Figure 2: Percentage of respondents who “strongly agreed” or “somewhat agreed” to the question “thinking about AI, how much do you agree or disagree with each of the following.” (Question 21 from the 2024 3M State of Science Insights)
  • ...and 44 more figures