AI Fear Scenarios
-- Dr. Jason Jeffrey Jones -- @jasonjones_jjj
-- Dr. Steven Sol Skiena -- @stevenskiena
Introduction
In this survey, we asked a random, representative sample of 102 Americans questions on the topic of fears of artificial intelligence.
All items required a response on a seven-point Likert scale.
Responses were collected January 24-27, 2021.
This survey is part of the Jones-Skiena Public Opinion of AI Dashboard.
Read the items below or skip to results.
| # | Item | Low Scale Label | High Scale Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Generally speaking, would you say that you can't be too careful in dealing with people or that most people can be trusted? | Can't be too careful | Most people can be trusted |
| 2 | How do you see yourself: Do you try to avoid taking risks or are you generally a person who is fully prepared to take risks? | Unwilling to take risk | Fully prepared to take risks |
| 3 | How much do you agree with this statement: I fear that Artificial Intelligence will lead to the extinction of human beings. | Strongly disagree | Strongly agree |
| 4 | How much do you agree with this statement: I fear that Artificial Intelligence will lead to me losing my job involuntarily. | Strongly disagree | Strongly agree |
| 5 | How much do you agree with this statement: I fear that Artificial Intelligence will lead to individuals being treated unfairly. | Strongly disagree | Strongly agree |
| 6 | How much do you agree with this statement: I fear that Artificial Intelligence will lead to more income inequality. | Strongly disagree | Strongly agree |
| 7 | How much do you agree with this statement: I fear that Artificial Intelligence will lead to less freedom for individuals. | Strongly disagree | Strongly agree |
| 8 | How much do you agree with this statement: I fear that as a society we will come to rely on Artificial Intelligence, and then it will fail catastrophically. | Strongly disagree | Strongly agree |
| 9 | How much do you agree with this statement: I fear that Artificial Intelligence will be controlled by people who are greedy, selfish or irresponsible. | Strongly disagree | Strongly agree |
| 10 | How much do you agree with this statement: For games like checkers and chess, humans can’t be beaten by Artificial Intelligence. | Strongly disagree | Strongly agree |
Ranking Fears by Magnitude
In the figure below, we rank each scenario by how much it is feared. We estimate the average response for an American based on our random, representative sample and demographic weighting to match the American population.
Interpretation
More than anything, Americans fear who will control AI. They fear that Artificial Intelligence will be controlled by people who are greedy, selfish or irresponsible - much more than they fear losing their own job or AI leading to human extinction.
Refer to the table in the Introduction for full item text.
Still to come...
Item-by-item breakdowns by gender, age and geography. "Total Fear" and its relationship with self-report "trait trust" and risk tolerance.
These surveys are conducted by Dr. Jason Jeffrey Jones and Dr. Steven Sol Skiena. All raw data is available at this Open Science Foundation repository. Please include proper attribution any time you make use of our work. Read more about the Jones-Skiena Public Opinion of AI Dashboard.