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Do You Really Know What AI Is?
By Movieguide® Contributor
A new study has found that adults’ perceptions of AI technology change once they fully understand it.
The study, conducted by Barna, looked at misconceptions surrounding AI. Many adults seem unsure of what exactly constitutes AI technology.
“For example, over two in five U.S. adults say they regularly use technology like smart home devices (45%), in-device assistants like Siri (42%) and facial recognition (40%) — all of which utilize AI,” Barna noted. “Yet when asked, ‘How often are you using AI in your personal life?’ most U.S. adults say not very much (30%) or not at all (27%).”
The key point of the study was seeing what people’s thoughts on AI were after they had received a full explanation of the technology.
“Before reading Barna’s explanation of AI, over half of survey respondents (51%) describe AI as ‘concerning,’” the group explained. “After the explanation, this number reduces to 42 percent. Similarly, we see decreases in the number of people who say AI is scary, untrustworthy and disconnecting people (and other negative perceptions), as well as increases in the number of people who say AI is constructive, encouraging and good for people (and other positive perceptions).”
Barna added that adults are more likely to “strongly agree” that they understand AI when the term “artificial intelligence” is used, as opposed to the abbreviation.
The Pew Research Center conducted a similar survey in 2023 about Americans’ perceptions of AI.
“The vast majority of Americans (90%) say they’ve heard at least a little about artificial intelligence, according to an August 2023 survey. However, only one-in-three say they’ve heard a lot about it,” Pew stated. “While most people are aware of AI, Americans’ ability to identify specific uses of the technology is still developing. Only 30% of U.S. adults correctly recognize all six examples of AI in everyday life that we asked about in a December 2022 survey.”
Pew also noted that an understanding of the tech can depend on the level of education.
“Adults with a college or postgraduate degree are more likely to be familiar with AI than those with less education,” Pew explained. “There are also significant differences by gender and age, with men and younger adults being more familiar with AI than women and older adults.”
Both studies correspond with findings from another one done by the Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management.
“Describing a product as using AI lowers a customer’s intention to buy it,” CNN reported of the study. “Researchers sampled participants across various age groups and showed them the same products — the only difference between them: one was described as ‘high tech’ and the other as using AI, or artificial intelligence…’In every single case, the intention to buy or use the product or service was significantly lower whenever we mentioned AI in the product description.’”
Overall, Barna’s findings enforce the importance of language as we continue to navigate these changes in technology.
“The language we use has the potential to shape understanding of AI and its implications,” Barna concluded.
Movieguide® previously reported on Christians’ perception of AI:
A new survey concluded that Christians and people who read the Bible are more suspicious of artificial intelligence than the general public.
The American Bible Society’s State of the Bible survey examined how Bible-believing Christians feel about technology, specifically artificial intelligence.
The survey included four positive and four negative statements regarding AI and its effects on faith, the church and culture.
“The greatest levels of disagreement came on positive statements about AI’s spiritual and moral value (68% and 58%, respectively). Note that these weren’t only Christians saying that AI could not ‘promote spiritual health’ or ‘aid in moral reasoning.’ This was the general public. Those two statements also garnered the lowest levels of agreement (9% and 13%),” the survey reported.
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