Fox News Poll: Top reactions to AI? Voters say ‘dangerous’ and ‘afraid’

Most voters think artificial intelligence technology will change the way we live in the U.S. in the next few years. Whether that is a good thing or bad remains to be seen.

In the latest Fox News national survey, voters were asked their main reactions — without the aid options — when they think about artificial intelligence. 

Most often, the response was negative, with the top mentions being afraid and dangerous (16%). Others think it is generally a bad idea (11%) or they can’t trust it (8%).

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There are positive sentiments as well, albeit in smaller numbers. Voters say AI is innovative (7%), and they are impressed or excited (6%) or cautiously optimistic (5%) about it.

Seven percent say AI confuses them, 6% think of robots, 6% have mixed feelings and 4% feel it needs more research.

Among most demographic groups, the top response is afraid or dangerous, especially for women, Gen Xers and Republicans.  

“The power of AI and the speed of its development clearly weighs on the minds of many,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News Poll along with Democrat Chris Anderson. “We’re not quite at the ‘red pill, blue pill’ stage like Neo, but we are worried about where all this is headed.”

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In a blog post published Monday, OpenAI leaders wrote, “It’s conceivable that, within the next ten years, AI systems will exceed expert skill level in most domains and carry out as much productive activity as one of today’s largest corporations.”

Still, just 4% of voters say AI makes them think it is a threat to jobs.

An overwhelming majority agree artificial intelligence will change the way we live in the U.S., and it’ll be in the next few years (86%).

Forty-three percent feel it will change a lot while another 43% say just some. Twelve percent believe it won’t change much (9%) if at all (3%).

Over half of voters are concerned about artificial intelligence technology (56%), which lands it in 11th place (and tied with climate change) among a list of 15 concerns. Women, nonwhite voters and voters over age 65 are among those most concerned while men, White voters and voters under age 35 are the least worried.

 

So who is using artificial intelligence technology like ChatGPT?

A quarter of voters overall say they have used it, and 74% say they haven’t.

Voters under age 35 (44%), men (30%), Hispanic voters (33%), and Democrats (28%) are more likely than voters over age 65 (9%), women (19%), Black voters (21%), White voters (22%), and Republicans (20%) to have used the technology.

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Conducted May 19-22, 2023, under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News Poll includes interviews with 1,001 registered voters nationwide randomly selected from a voter file who spoke with live interviewers on landline phones and cellphones. The total sample has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.