61% of Americans say AI threatens humanity’s future: Poll

The majority of Americans polled in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday believe that the rapid development of artificial intelligence technologies could endanger humankind.

The negative implications of AI worry more than two-thirds of Americans, and 61% think it could endanger civilization. The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) into daily life has propelled AI to the forefront of public discourse, with OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot emerging as the fastest-growing application of all time. An AI arms race has begun thanks to ChatGPT, with industry giants like Microsoft and Google competing to outdo one another in their AI achievements.

Government officials and AI businesses are also worried: Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, spoke before the US Congress on Tuesday. He raised worries about possible technology abuse and called for regulation. “This genie cannot be contained in a bottle. During a Senate session on the uses of AI on Tuesday, Senator Cory Booker was one of many lawmakers who raised concerns about the best way to govern AI.

61% of respondents think AI endangers humans

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, Americans who foresee adverse outcomes from AI are triple the number of those who don’t.

The statistics show that 61% of respondents think AI endangers humans, while only 22% disagree and 17% are undecided.

People who supported Donald Trump in the 2020 election showed greater levels of worry; 70% of Trump supporters and 60% of Joe Biden supporters concurred that AI could endanger civilization.

In terms of religious convictions, 32% of Evangelical Christians and 24% of non-Evangelical Christians, respectively, were more likely to “strongly agree” that AI poses hazards to mankind.

“It’s telling such a broad swatch of Americans to worry about the negative effects of AI,” said Landon Klein, director of U.S. policy of the Future of Life Institute, the organization behind an open letter, co-signed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, demanding a six-month pause in AI research. “We view the current moment as similar to the beginning of the nuclear era, and we have the benefit of public perception that is consistent with the need to take action.”

Economy and crime are more pressing dinner-table issues

Although AI is a concern for Americans, the economy and crime are more pressing dinner-table issues: In order to combat crime, 77% support boosting police expenditure, while 82% are concerned about the possibility of a recession.

Industry insiders argued that the public has to be made more aware of the advantages of AI.

“The concerns are very legitimate, but I think what’s missing in the dialogue, in general, is why are we doing this in the first place?” said Sebastian Thrun, a computer science professor at Stanford who founded Google X. “AI will raise peoples’ quality of life, and help people be more competent and more efficient.”