No doubt at least partially fueled by decades of Hollywood films about its evils, Americans are concerned over the rise of Artificial Intelligence and its various technologies. They are particularly concerned in regards to deepfakes (taking the image and/or voice of someone) and political propaganda. New polling by YouGov shows concern among the majority of Americans in regards to AI being used this way.
In August, YouGov asked Americans about their concern levels regarding 15 possible uses of artificial intelligence. Two-thirds of people said they were “somewhat” concerned about each of the 15 uses. 60% are very concerned about the spread of misleading audio and video via deepfakes (Actor Tom Hanks recently made headlines for saying a dental ad using his image and voice was generated via AI and without his consent or knowledge), half of people are concerned about the spread of political propaganda (55%), erosion of personal privacy clocked in at 54% concern, manipulation of human behavior (53%), increase in the power of surveillance states (50%) and the replacement of human jobs (50%). Fewer people, though still more than one-third, are concerned about the exacerbation of mental health issues (37%) and of AI being used to reinforce societal biases (37%).
78% of Americans want AI to be somewhat or much more regulated. And most (57%) support (either strongly or somewhat) a six-month pause in development of at least some kinds of AI. Similar viewpoints were expressed in June and April of this year of a pause in AI development.
Another survey asked about the morality of AI uses. Of the 20 uses, five were deemed by at least half of people as never morally acceptable. This includes deepfakes in journalism (63%), impersonate someones voice or appearance (59%), to create persuasive political propaganda (57%), to genetically engineer human embryos (55%), and to determine college admissions (54%).
Few said any of the uses were ever morally acceptable, some asked were more likely than others to be viewed as acceptable in some instances. 68% said it was always or sometimes acceptable to use AI to detect and report illegal content. At least half said it was okay to use AI to simulate human conversation when lonely (50%) to email a colleague (52%) or to match people on dating apps (59%).
Either way, no matter how we feel about it, nor how much the T-800 or the Hal 9000 freaked us out, Artificial Intelligence seems like it here to stay.