(The Hill) — Americans are far more likely to feel uneasy than enthusiastic about artificial intelligence’s expanding presence in daily life, according to a new biweekly survey tracking public attitudes toward the fast-moving technology.
The poll, called “Americans on AI” and shared first with The Hill by the new nonprofit Athena Insights, suggests that most people have already formed views about AI — even if they have had limited direct experience using it.
That caution was clear when respondents were asked how they felt about AI’s “growing role” in society.
Among the 1,814 people surveyed, 28 percent said they were “very concerned,” while another 37 percent described themselves as “somewhat concerned.” By comparison, just 6 percent said they were “very excited,” and 18 percent said they were “somewhat excited.”
Very few respondents were undecided: Only 1 percent did not provide an answer, while 9 percent said none of the available choices accurately reflected how they felt.
The findings were strikingly consistent across party lines, even as Democratic and Republican leaders in Washington continue to diverge over how best to respond to the public’s concerns about AI.
Colin Hyatt Bortner, research lead for Athena Insights, told The Hill on Monday that the survey will be conducted every other week over the next year. The goal, he said, is to capture how Americans’ views on AI shift over time rather than to treat the results as a one-time snapshot.
“We tried to develop a very neutral instrument on the theory that to the extent that AI is having an impact on people, and that impact is negative, that will then show up in the data, and then that will drive a policy response,” Bortner said.
“And to the extent that it’s good … we also ask about the likelihood that AI will help medical and scientific advances or if it’ll help improve healthcare,” he added. “So the extent we’re starting to see these show up, that’s a really big sign too.”
Several polls have tested similar opinions this year, but Bortner argued many of these have come from safety or industry-aligned groups that may have a motive to just get a sentiment of the day or fulfill a bigger narrative.
The survey is fielded at NORC at the University of Chicago, in partnership with Early Studies, a market research firm based in London. The next results, with the same five questions, will drop on July 15.
Respondents were asked a range of questions, from how many benefits and downsides they see AI bringing to different sectors to how the government is handling regulation of the technology.
AI is touching nearly every sector of society, and the majority of respondents expressed a lack of control over how much presence it has in society.
About 70 percent said AI is coming into their lives whether they want it or not, while 15 percent chose “people like me can shape how much AI is part of our lives,” according to the poll. About 14 percent said neither answer represents their sentiment, and 2 percent had no answer.
People are also having trouble distinguishing what is real because of AI. About 70 percent of respondents stated that they are struggling with this distinction, the poll said.
By nearly 20 percentage points, the survey also found that more Americans do not think the government is doing enough for AI’s effects on children and young people, the environment, and workers and jobs.
While sentiment over concerns and excitement was similar across political parties, they broke on how they view the government’s actions on AI-related harms.
Republicans and Democrats mostly agreed that AI is making job security worse, but Democrats were more likely to say the government is not doing enough to help workers by 21 percentage points and the environment by 19 percentage points.
Still, the majority of divisions on answers came from the age and gender categories, rather than race or political party, researchers noted. Americans older than 50 are the most concerned, most resigned and most supportive of government action. Meanwhile, women are more concerned than men overall.
As more surveys are collected, researchers hope the results can help policymakers, journalists and the public understand Americans’ perception of the technology.
“If you’re having kind of a big, public policy fight, when push comes to shove, it’s much more helpful if you have the public on your side, and then that helps you figure out how you position yourself, how you argue,” Bornter said.
Policymakers in Washington have introduced dozens of bills to do more about AI, and its potential impact on the workforce, environment and national security. But poltics, and procedural hurdles have prevented most AI-related legislation from getting across the finish line.
This first poll was conducted among 1,814 Americans surveyed June 24-29. The results have a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
