People in India have the most trust in scientists.
Around the world, scientists are more trusted than business leaders and governments.
There is, however, scepticism around AI and workplace automation.
More than half of people in India have a lot of trust in scientists to do what is right, according to new research.
That is significantly more than in many Western economies such as the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and Germany.
However, most nations hold scientists in high esteem when compared with other prominent groups such as the government, the media or business leaders.
There is also broad agreement among all the economies surveyed about the value of scientific research, with most people seeing it as important for their country to be a leader in scientific achievements.
Despite the positive view of scientists in general, there is a much more mixed view when it comes to artificial intelligence and automation in the workplace.
What is the World Economic Forum doing about the Fourth Industrial Revolution?
The Centre for Frontier Technologies and Innovation brings together scientists, policymakers and business leaders to make sense of emerging technologies and their real-world implications.
By enabling collaboration and experimentation, the Centre helps partners translate innovation from research into practical applications that address shared global challenges.
While economies in the Asia-Pacific region are more likely to have a positive attitude to advances in this area, 42% of people surveyed said automation had been a bad thing.
And people in France, Spain and Brazil are among the least likely to say automation in the workplace has been good for society.
The research was conducted by the Pew Research Center across 20 different economies, with the survey ending in March 2020, before the global coronavirus pandemic had reached some places.
