Artificial Intelligence has been threatening to take over the world for decades now, starting as a academic concept in 1956 and inspiring countless sci-fi stories in the following years. The idea was always that human intelligence is such a graspable system that it should be something a computer can simulate, and in the decades since its inception the concept has taken great strides until we find ourselves here: potentially standing at the door of a revolution of the mind. But like most new concepts that get tossed around in sci-fi stories for decades before becoming a reality, people start to get a creepy feeling about them and the harm they may cause via countless doomsday scenarios presented in popular fiction.
The information below comes courtesy of the latest reading of an ongoing study by Comparably. Over 1000 employees responded to the survey.
Men are far less concerned about the potential risks of Artificial Intelligence than women. In answering the question, “Do you think the benefits of Artificial Intelligence outweigh the potential risks?”, more than two-thirds of men answered that the benefits outweighed the risks. Less than half of women agreed.
Ethnicities are not aligned on the issue of Artificial Intelligence. The Asian/Pacific Islander segment is as bullish about AI as the overall male score when all employees are considered. On the other end of the scale, African-Americans are just a few points more positive about AI than all women employees. In the middle are the Hispanic/Latinos and the Caucasians, with responses landing between the overall averages for men and women.
There’s a spike in approval for AI from the 46-50 age group, who may have grown up in an era of popular culture filled with robots and super-smart computers and are therefore less worried about the possible repercussions. Otherwise, most age groups respond generally alike, hovering around 60% approval for AI.
The less educated, the more reservations about Artificial Intelligence’s effect on society. Those with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees are most fearless about the technology, with those holding Master’s breaking 70% approval.
When the results are looked at by experience level of the respondents, we see rising approval as experience level rises. Entry-level employees are the most uncertain about AI’s benefits vs. risks. Approval rises until we get to the segment who have worked for over 10 years, and who are most bullish about AI. This potentially aligns with the approval we saw from the 46-50 age group.
By metro, we see that tech hotspot cities are generally more approving of AI than cities of more varied industry like New York and Chicago.
When departments are divided along gender lines, we see once again that most often it’s men that are most secure about the beneficial aspects of Artificial Intelligence outweighing any harm. The spread between male and female respondents in the Executive and Legal branches is particularly wide. However, women in Business Development and Communications bucked this trend with a higher approval rating for AI than their male counterparts.
Latest reading as of December 27.
