Public Concern Around Use of Artificial Intelligence is Widespread, Poll Finds

Oliver Cann, Tel.: +41 79 799 3405; oca@weforum.org Muzi Li, Tel.: +86 139 1046 6369; muzi.li@weforum.org

· An opinion poll commissioned by the World Economic Forum finds a sizeable proportion of the global public believes greater oversight is needed of the use of artificial intelligence by governments and businesses

· Concern is widely shared across sex, age, income and education levels

· For more information about the Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions click here

Dalian, China, 1 July 2019 – A significant portion of the global population is concerned about the use of artificial intelligence, with scepticism about its use by business greater than its use by government, a poll published today by the World Economic Forum finds.

According to the poll, which surveys the attitudes of over 20,000 people across 27 countries, 41% of respondents said that they were worried about the use of AI. This compares to 27% that disagreed and 32% that were undecided.

When asked whether the use of AI by companies should be regulated more strictly than it is today, 48% of respondents said they agreed compared to 20% that disagreed.

The scepticism towards corporate use of AI was diminished when it comes to governments, with relatively less people – 40% - believing current restrictions needed to be tightened up compared to 24% that disagreed with the statement.

However, in support of the idea that society still overwhelmingly believes in the inherent potential of the technology to do good, only 19% of people said they believed that the use of AI should be banned altogether compared to 48% that disagreed.

“Artificial intelligence is one of the most powerful tools we have as a society,” said Kay Firth-Butterfield, Head of Artificial Intelligence and the World Economic Forum. “But, without a governance structure to provide the guardrails for how we interact with this, we risk leaving large parts of the population behind. Developing these guidelines is our focus area at the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We hope to accelerate the adoption of this technology to maximize its benefits, while minimizing the risks.”

One remarkable finding from the poll is that attitudes towards AI varied little across sex, age, income or education level. Slightly fewer men (39%) said they were concerned about the use of AI than women (44%). Respondents under the age of 35 were slightly less likely than those aged 35-49 and those 50 and older to agree with calls to further restrict the use of AI by government (38% vs. 41% and 41%, respectively) and for more regulation of business (46% vs. 50% and 50%, respectively). People with lower levels of education were just as concerned about the use of AI in general (42% compared to 41% for both medium- and highly-educated people), in favour of restricting government use (41% vs. 40% and 39%, respectively), and in favour of regulating business (48% vs. 49% and 49%, respectively).

The data was compiled by Ipsos for the Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions, which brings together over 1,800 leaders this week in the Chinese city of Dalian to discuss among other things the impact of technological innovation on the global economy and society.

The World Economic Forum’s 13th Annual Meeting of the New Champions is taking place from 1-3 July 2019 in Dalian, People’s Republic of China. Convening under the theme, Leadership 4.0: Succeeding in a New Era of Globalization, more than 2,000 business leaders, policy-makers and experts from over 80 countries will participate and explore more than 200 sessions.

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