'Scary Robots': Examining public responses to AI
Publication Date
2019Journal Title
Proceedings of the 2019 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society - AIES '19
Conference Name
AAAI/ACM Conference on AI Ethics and Society 2019
ISBN
9781450363242
Publisher
ACM
Type
Conference Object
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Cave, S., Coughlan, K., & Dihal, K. (2019). 'Scary Robots': Examining public responses to AI. Proceedings of the 2019 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society - AIES '19 https://doi.org/10.1145/3306618.3314232
Abstract
How AI is perceived by the public can have significant im-pact on how it is developed, deployed and regulated. Some commentators argue that perceptions are currently distorted or extreme. This paper discusses the results of a nationally representative survey of the UK population on their percep-tions of AI. The survey solicited responses to eight common narratives about AI (four optimistic, four pessimistic), plus views on what AI is, how likely it is to impact in respond-ents’ lifetimes, and whether they can influence it. 42% of respondents offered a plausible definition of AI, while 25% thought it meant robots. Of the narratives presented, those associated with automation were best known, followed by the idea that AI would become more powerful than humans. Overall results showed that the most common visions of the impact of AI elicit significant anxiety. Only two of the eight narratives elicited more excitement than concern (AI making life easier, and extending life). Respondents felt they had no control over AI’s development, citing the power of corpora-tions or government, or versions of technological determin-ism. Negotiating the deployment of AI will require contend-ing with these anxieties.
Sponsorship
Drs Cave and Dihal are funded by a Leverhulme Trust Research Centre Grant awarded to the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence
Embargo Lift Date
2100-01-01
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3306618.3314232
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/288453
Rights
Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Licence URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
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