Nearly all Americans use AI, though most dislike it, poll shows
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The vast majority of Americans use products that involve AI, but their views of the technology remain overwhelmingly negative, according to a Gallup-Telescope survey published Wednesday.
Why it matters: The rapid advancement of generative AI threatens to have far-reaching consequences for Americans' everyday lives, including reshaping the job market, impacting elections, and affecting the health care industry.
The big picture: An estimated 99% of Americans used at least one AI-enabled product in the past week, but nearly two-thirds didn't realize they were doing so, according to the poll's findings.
- These products included navigation apps, personal virtual assistants, weather forecasting apps, streaming services, shopping websites and social media platforms.
- Ellyn Maese, a senior research consultant at Gallup, told Axios that the disconnect is because there is "a lot of confusion when it comes to what is just a computer program versus what is truly AI and intelligent."
Zoom in: Despite its prevalent use, Americans' views of AI remain overwhelmingly bleak, the survey found.
- 72% of those surveyed had a "somewhat" or "very" negative opinion of how AI would impact the spread of false information, while 64% said the same about how it affects social connections.
- The only area where a majority of Americans (61%) had a positive view of AI's impact was regarding how it might help medical diagnosis and treatment.
What they're saying: Given the attention paid to deepfakes in recent months, surveyors expected to see negative results in areas surrounding misinformation, but they didn't foresee just how gloomy the picture would be.
- "We were actually surprised by how negative perceptions actually were in a lot of these areas," like national security, Maese told Axios.
- But opinions likely won't result in much less usage of these AI-enabled products, she noted.
- "I don't see anybody signing off of social media or streaming apps anytime soon, whether they know that it uses AI or not," she said.
State of play: The survey found that 68% of Americans believe the government and businesses equally bear responsibility for addressing the spread of false information related to AI.
- 63% said the same about personal data privacy violations.
- Majorities of those surveyed felt the same about combatting the unauthorized use of individuals' likenesses (62%) and AI's impact on job losses (52%).
- In fact, the only area where Americans felt differently was when it came to national security threats; 62% of those surveyed said the government bore primary responsibility for reducing such threats.
Between the lines: The fact that Americans see AI regulation as a shared responsibility between business and government indicates a "healthy" appetite to see those sectors work together to address AI, Maese told Axios.
- "Often the debates that you hear are very much polarized," she said. "It's, 'should government set regulations,' or 'should businesses be allowed to set their own regulations?' And what the public is saying is, 'No, you guys need to figure out a way to work together to solve these problems.'"
Methodology: This poll surveyed 3,975 adults using a Gallup Panel between Nov. 26-Dec. 4, 2024. The margin of sampling error was ±2.6 percentage points.
