Many oppose AI weapons — until China builds them: Gallup poll
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Americans are wary of the U.S. military developing autonomous AI weapons — until foreign rivals do it first — new polling from Gallup and the nonprofit, nonpartisan Special Competitive Studies Project finds.
Why it matters: The poll echoes the way U.S. defense officials frame the AI race with China and others: as a competition where not keeping up could put America at risk.
By the numbers: 48% of Americans say they oppose the development of AI-enabled weapons for use in military conflicts, compared with 39% who support it.
- But their opinions change once another country is believed to be working on those weapons: In that scenario, support for the U.S. building AI-enabled weapons jumps to 53%.
- 25% of those Americans say they even "strongly support" such activities, up 13 points from the original share who said the same.
- The survey was conducted with 3,128 U.S. adults between April 25–May 5 as part of Gallup's broader panel web survey.
The big picture: The U.S. Department of Defense has been embracing AI in its future procurement plans. In July, the department awarded up to $200 million in contracts for AI work to OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and xAI.
Zoom in: Many Americans support AI in some military uses but not in combat.
- 38% of Americans say AI tools will improve the quality of national intelligence information.
- 41% also say they believe the tools will help detect military threats.
The intrigue: Republicans and men are more likely to see AI as a positive for U.S. national security.
- 42% of men and 44% of Republicans say AI will have a positive impact, compared to 32% of women and 31% of Democrats who say the same.
