According to a recent survey, fear of AI harming the political process ranks third among Americans, topping the fear of losing a loved one to death.
AI is arguably one of the most transformative technologies in history, revolutionizing countless industries, professions, and how people interact with technology. Despite, or perhaps because of, its transformative nature, AI also poses one of the greatest threats to humanity. Exactly how great that threat is depends entirely on who is asked. Proponents say AI has potential to cause real harm, but the risk is greatly overblown and the benefits outweigh the risks. Still others, including notable technologists like Elon Musk, say AI poses an existential threat to humanity.
Whatever the real threat is, Americans now rank AI among their greatest fears, according to Chapman University. In the 12th annual Chapman University Survey of American Fears, fear of AI came in at third place.
For the first time, researchers asked several questions examining fears about artificial intelligence. Fear of AI harming the political process ranked No. 3 (51.9%), while fear of AI hurting the economy ranked No. 7 (49.7%). Government corruption remained the nation’s leading fear (61.1%), followed by U.S. involvement in another world war (58%).
“These findings make it clear that Americans are concerned not just about what AI might mean for their jobs, but about its potential impact on our political system and the economy,” said Christopher Bader, Ph.D., professor of sociology and founder of the survey. “As artificial intelligence becomes more integrated into everyday life, understanding these fears will be increasingly important. We expect concerns about AI to remain a significant part of the national conversation in the years ahead.”
Interestingly, fear of AI was not universal, in terms of what that fear applied to.
Americans’ views of emerging technologies varied depending on how they might be used. Respondents were more hopeful than fearful about abundant clean energy, life-extension medicine, and humans working with robots in manufacturing. Continuous employee monitoring, genetically engineering human babies, and AI romantic partners generated far more fear than hope.
“When you frame it as AI or robots that are going to allow you to build something that you weren’t able to do before … those get people a lot more excited,” said Seth Benzell, Ph.D., assistant professor of business and economics.
The survey is an interesting data point that underscores some of the challenges facing the AI industry when it comes to building trust in the tech.