Understanding Public Attitudes to AI

Understanding public awareness, experience and attitudes towards different uses of artificial intelligence

Project status

Ongoing

Introduction

While the term AI appears frequently in public discourse, it can be difficult to define and is often poorly understood – particularly as it encompasses a wide range of technologies used in different contexts and for distinct purposes. There is no single definition of AI, and the public may see the term applied in a wide variety of settings. Understanding people’s perspectives on data and AI is a key component in ensuring these technologies are developed to align with societal values, and are able to address societal needs.

In late 2022 The Alan Turing Institute in partnership with the Ada Lovelace Institute conducted a nationally representative survey of over 4,000 members of the British public, to understand their awareness, experience of and attitudes towards different uses of artificial intelligence including views and expectations on how these technologies should be regulated and governed. The results of this survey were published in 2023.

A further survey will be conducted in Autumn 2024, with results published in Spring 2025. This survey will have a particular focus on minoritised voices to achieve a deeper understanding of groups most negatively impacted by AI developments, and the Ada Lovelace Institute will also conduct complementary qualitative research alongside this.

Project aims

This research aims to make an important contribution to what we know about public attitudes to AI, and provides a detailed picture of the ways in which the British public perceive issues surrounding its many diverse applications. We hope that it will be useful in helping researchers, developers and policymakers understand and respond to public expectations about the benefits and risks that these technologies may pose, as well as public demand for how these technologies should be governed.

Ultimately, we hope that this research can help to maximise the potential benefits of AI.

Research outputs

A report was produced based on initial findings of the first survey. The entirety of the anonymised survey data is also openly available on Github, which provides the opportunity for researchers from any institute to further explore the results.

Highlights from the first survey results analysis

The survey found that the public see clear benefits for many uses of AI, particularly technologies relating to health, science and security.

For example, when offered 17 examples of AI technologies to consider, respondents thought the benefits outweigh concerns for 10 of these:

  • 88% of the public said that AI is beneficial for assessing the risk of cancer
  • 76% saw the benefit of virtual reality in education
  • 74% think climate research simulations could be advanced using the technology

 

Graph showing where attitudes to AI are most positive, including cancer assessment, border control and policing.

 

The survey also showed that people often think speed, efficiency and improving accessibility are the main advantages of AI. For example, 82% think that earlier detection is a benefit of using AI with cancer scans and 70% feel speeding up border control is a benefit of facial recognition technology.

However, attitudes do vary across different technologies. Almost two thirds (64%) are concerned that workplaces will rely too heavily on AI for recruitment, rather than using professional judgement, and 61% are concerned that AI will be less able than employers and recruiters to take account of individual circumstances.

 

Table showing concerns about AI robotics, including unreliability and loss of human interaction

 

Public concerns extend beyond use of AI in the workplace. People are most concerned about advanced robotics:

  • 72% express concern about driverless cars
  • 71% are concerned about autonomous weapons
  • 78% worry that the use of robotic care assistants in hospitals and nursing homes would mean patients missing out on human interaction
  • 45% worried about the reliability of robotic vacuum cleaners

However, even for the technologies that people were most concerned about, they could still see potential benefits.

Table showing perceived benefits to AI robotics, including accessibility, speed and saving lives.

 

And when asked what would make them more comfortable with the use of AI, almost two thirds (62%) chose ‘laws and regulations that prohibit certain uses of technologies and guide the use of all AI technologies’ and 59% chose ‘clear procedures for appealing to a human against an AI decision’.

Table showing how people would feel more comfortable with AI, including improved laws and regulations, and the ability to appeal automated decisions.

 

The full report can be read here, and the full data is available for download on GitHub.

Watch a recording of the panel launching the report, featuring researchers and expert speakers:

 

This report from the survey was co-authored by The Alan Turing Institute (Professor Helen Margetts, Dr Florence Enock, Miranda Cross) and the Ada Lovelace Institute (Aidan Peppin, Roshni Modhvadia, Anna Colom, Andrew Strait, Octavia Reeve) with substantial input from LSE’s Methodology Department (Professor Patrick Sturgis, Katya Kostadintcheva, Oriol Bosch-Jover).

This project was made possible by a grant from The Alan Turing Institute and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

Researchers and collaborators

Previous contributors