Americans generally view AI negatively, although they see “beneficial uses” for it • Idaho Capital Sun

The vast majority of Americans have negative views of AI and its impact on their future, although they also admit they do not fully understand how or why the technology is currently being used.

Those views come from a study conducted this summer by the think tank Heartland Forward, which used Aaru, an artificial intelligence-based research group that uses news and social media to solicit respondents.

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The survey sought opinions on AI among Americans across racial, gender, and age groups in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Heartland Forward also hosted live dinners in Fargo, North Dakota, and Nashville, Tennessee, to gather feedback.

While more than 75% of respondents said they felt skeptical, fearful, or generally negative about AI, they expressed more positive feelings when they learned about specific applications of the technology in industries such as healthcare, agriculture, and manufacturing.

Many negative feelings related to AI and work, with 83% of respondents saying they believed it could negatively impact their job opportunities or career paths. These respondents said they felt uneasy about AI in their industries, and nearly 53% said they felt they should receive AI training in the workplace. Respondents from Louisiana showed the highest level of concern about job opportunities (91%), while Alabama showed the highest level of workplace anxiety (90%).

Respondents also had huge concerns about AI’s ethical competence and data protection, with 87% saying they didn’t think AI was capable of making impartial ethical decisions and 89% saying it wasn’t capable of protecting privacy.

But when surveyors asked respondents about specific AI applications in healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing, education, transportation, finance and entertainment, they got positive responses, with most respondents believing AI could have “beneficial applications” across a range of industries.

Nearly 79% of respondents believe AI could have a moderate or positive impact on healthcare, 77% believe so in relation to agriculture, manufacturing and education, 80% believe so in relation to transportation, 73% believe so in relation to finance and 70% believe so in relation to entertainment.

Very strong positive sentiments about AI were less common, but some states stood out for seeing applications in dominant local industries. North Dakota showed more interest than others when it came to agriculture, with 35% seeing “very high” potential, compared to 19% in Oklahoma and 18% in Louisiana.

“This really shows us that, number one, education is important, and number two, we need to bring the right people to the table to talk about it,” said Angie Cooper, executive vice president of Heartland Forward.

The negative and positive sentiments recorded in the survey showed very little difference between genders, age groups and races. Negative sentiments about AI’s impact on society also persisted across the political spectrum, Cooper said.

Another unifying statistic was that at least 93% of respondents believe it is at least “moderately important” for governments to regulate AI.

Cooper said that at the organization’s dinners in Fargo and Nashville — which brought together investors, entrepreneurs, business owners and policymakers — it was clear that people had some understanding of how AI was being used in their sector, but were unaware of the policies and regulations being put in place at the state level.

While there is no federal legislation on AI, so far this year 11 new states have passed laws on how to use, regulate, or introduce checks and balances on AI. Currently, 28 states have AI legislation.

“The data shows, and the conversations we had in Fargo and Nashville really show, that there’s still a lack of transparency,” Cooper said. “And that’s why they think politics can help play a role there.”