Open Access Publications

Permanent URI for this collection

https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/27387
Open access publications by faculty, postdocs, and graduate students in the Department of Communications.

Browse

Browsing Open Access Publications by Subject "Artificial intelligence (AI)"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Media Messages and U.S. Public Opinion about Artificial Intelligence
    (Department of Communication, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 2020-08) Brewer, Paul; Wilson, David; Bingaman, James; Paintsil, Ashley; Obozintsev, Lucy; Brewer, Paul; Wilson, David
    A national survey conducted March 17-27, 2020 and supervised by researchers at the University of Delaware finds that the American public holds favorable but wary views on artificial intelligence (AI). Most Americans support the development of AI, a plurality support public funding for it, and few support banning it. A majority also favor regulating the technology. The survey finds widespread support for AI uses involving military drones and diagnosing diseases, but opinions are more divided on self-driving vehicles and facial identification. Americans are similarly divided on whether AI will have mostly positive or mixed effects on society. Only a small percentage believe the technology will do more harm than good. Most Americans are hopeful that AI will create jobs, improve health care, help stop harmful content online, prevent terrorism, catch criminals, and make day-to-day life easier. Yet large majorities are worried that AI will eliminate jobs, invade people’s privacy, help spread harmful content online, and enable cyber-attacks. More than half of Americans also say they worry that AI may eventually pose a threat to the existence of the human race. The public trusts university researchers, technology companies, and the U.S. military to develop and use AI. By contrast, only one in three Americans trusts the government in Washington to do so. Experiences with media and technology are linked to positive views of AI, and messages about the technology shape opinions toward it.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    U.S. Public Opinion about Artificial Intelligence: Declining Support for Development and Divided Views on Facial Recognition
    (Department of Communication, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 2020-12) Brewer, Paul; Wilson, David; Bingaman, James; Paintsil, Ashley; Obozintsev, Lucy
    A national survey supervised by researchers at the University of Delaware finds that the American public holds favorable views on artificial intelligence but also worries about its implications. This study, conducted in fall 2020, re-interviewed 1,205 respondents who took part in a March 2020 survey supervised by the same research team. Public opinion about AI was largely stable across the two waves of the study. The new survey found that most Americans favor regulating the technology, a majority support developing it, a plurality favor public funding for it, and few support banning it. However, support for developing AI has declined by 7 percentage points. The new survey also found ongoing support for AI uses involving military drones and diagnosing diseases. Opinions are more divided on self-driving vehicles, and support for facial identification applications has eroded. Americans remain split on whether AI will have mostly positive or mixed effects on society, though only a small percentage believe the technology will do more harm than good. Most Americans continue to say they are hopeful that AI will create jobs, improve health care, help stop harmful content online, prevent terrorism, catch criminals, and make day-to-day life easier. Yet some of these hopes have faded. Moreover, large majorities are still worried that AI will eliminate jobs, invade people’s privacy, help spread harmful content online, and enable cyber-attacks. More than half of Americans say they worry that AI may eventually pose a threat to the existence of the human race. The survey results show that the public trusts university researchers, the U.S. military, and technology companies to develop and use AI. Meanwhile, fewer than one in three Americans trusts the government in Washington to do so. Most Americans support law enforcement agencies using facial recognition technology to identify suspected criminals. However, public opinion is divided on whether law enforcement agencies should use facial recognition technology to monitor public protests.
Copyright: Please look at individual material in order to see what the copyright and licensing terms are. Some material may be available for reuse under a Creative Commons license; other material may be the copyright of the individual author(s) or the publisher of the journal.