The UK public is generally more optimistic than pessimistic about the future impact of AI, according to a new government study.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has published the results of the annual tracker survey on public attitudes – based on a survey of over 5,000 people carried out by market research firm Savanta – relating it to the plan to build a ‘digital centre of government’ within the department.
Among the results of the survey is that 43% of respondents thought AI would have a positive impact on society against 33% saying negative, with 20% neutral and 4% saying they didn’t know. For perspectives on how it would impact them personally, 39% said positive, 29% negative, 23% neutral and 8% don’t know.
They saw the greatest potential for positive impacts in monitoring climate change (54%), healthcare (52%), supporting the police in the fight against crime (49%), education (41%) and improving the quality of public services (40%). In all of these the positive perspectives were at least double the negatives, but more people recorded negative views for job opportunities, how fairly people are treated in society and trustworthiness of new and online information.
A familiar trend emerged in response to questions on whether people trust organisations in data sharing, with 85% agreeing that they do for the NHS, 76% for academic researchers and only 38% for government.
Rising awareness
In addition, public awareness of AI seems to be increasing. The proportion of people saying they had heard of AI and could give a detailed or partial explanation of what it is has increased over the past three surveys to figures of 15% and 55% respectively.
The biggest negative overall is that people who are digitally disengaged are more likely to be sceptical about the prospects. 51% thought the impact on them personally would be negative, without 28% neutral, only 17% positive and 4% don’t know.
In the report’s foreword, Minister for AI and digital Government Feryal Clark, says: “Data driven innovation lies at the heart of the DSIT ambitious vision to accelerate economic growth, elevate public services, and improve living standards for everyone.
“The newly proposed Data Bill marks a pivotal step toward turning this vision into reality. Yet, realising the full economic and societal benefits of data and AI depends on one essential factor: public trust.
“We must ensure these technologies are designed and implemented in ways that resonate with public expectations while addressing their valid concerns.”
