Technology

Americans more concerned than excited about AI tech

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March 28, 2022

More Americans are more concerned than excited about the increase of AI tech in daily life, according to a Pew Research Center survey.

The survey, however, revealed a more positive outlook when it comes to the use of facial recognition, exoskeletons and algorithms, yet much more wariness about the future of autonomous passenger vehicles, gene editing and chip implants in the human brain, according to a press release on the survey findings.

Researchers polled 10,260 U.S. adults in the first week of November, 2021.

"This kind of public opinion work brings ordinary people's voices into the development facilities where these things are happening," Lee Rainie, Pew's director of internet and technology research, said in the release. "Adding everyone's voice to thinking about these things will help people make good policy around them and help technologists understand where the public is coming from when these technologies roll out into their lives."

Additional findings include:

• Facial recognition technology used by police was met with a mostly positive reaction, as 46% of adults said it would be good for society.
• Social media companies' use of AI to find false information was supported by 38% of respondents, while 31% thought the opposite.

"People are sort of nuanced and somewhat discriminating in their views. They don't just have blanket judgments that they make about AI or human enhancement," Rainie said in the release. "They're really judging each application on its own terms."