The fifth annual Ipsos AI Monitor study surveyed 23,500 people in 32 countries about their views on artificial intelligence. Data was collected between March 20 and April 3 of this year, with a clear result. Excitement and nervousness reached almost the same level, and people often feel both at the same time. A similar picture emerges from the ninth chapter of this year’s Stanford AI Index report, which summarizes data from more than thirty countries, as well as from a recent CVVM survey among Czechs.
Excitement and concern are now evenly matched
Ipsos has been tracking public opinion on AI since 2022. Its analysts point out that people’s views change much more slowly than the technology itself. The only significant shift occurred between 2022 and 2023, when ChatGPT became available to ordinary users. Since then, the figures have moved by only a few percentage points.
This year, 51% of respondents said that products and services featuring artificial intelligence made them feel excited, while 50% admitted to feeling nervous. A total of 55% believe that the benefits of AI outweigh its disadvantages. However, in 17 of the 28 countries for which year-on-year comparisons are available, this share declined. Excitement fell most sharply in Germany and the United Kingdom, where it dropped by eight percentage points, and in France by seven. By contrast, it increased in South Africa and South Korea.
Looking ahead, people expect artificial intelligence to have a greater impact than they have experienced so far. A significant change in their lives over the past three to five years was felt by 54% of respondents, while 66% expect such a change over the same period ahead.
Views on AI vary by region
In the Asia-Pacific region, 64% of people express excitement and 52% nervousness, while in Latin America the ratio is 56% to 47%. In Europe, these figures are reversed, with 39% reporting excitement and 50% nervousness. North America shows a completely different trend, with only 29% of people feeling excited compared with 65% who feel nervous.
Ipsos warns against the simplistic explanation that this is a difference between emerging and developed economies. Data from Ipsos Global Trends points to a different dividing line. Countries seeking to change the existing order see technology as a shortcut to improving their position in a rapidly changing global economy. By contrast, countries protecting their established systems are more cautious. Paradoxically, the markets most concerned about the state of the environment, such as Indonesia, Thailand, South Africa, and Colombia, are more likely to say that the benefits of AI outweigh its risks.
The United States stands out in this data as an exception, with low trust and high nervousness. Stanford data confirms this from another perspective, as only 31% of Americans trust their own government to establish sensible rules for AI. This is the lowest figure among all the countries surveyed, while the global average stands at 54%. By comparison, 81% of people in Singapore and 76% in Indonesia trust their government.
Work is getting faster, but job security is declining
Nearly two-thirds of workers, exactly 62%, say that AI has saved them time at work over the past twelve months. However, there are large differences between individual groups. Among people with higher incomes, 70% confirm this, while the share falls to 60% among middle-income households and 54% among low-income households. Generation Z reports time savings in 68% of cases, millennials in 65%, Generation X in 57%, and baby boomers in 46%.
At the same time, however, concerns about people’s own jobs are growing. A total of 62% of workers expect the way they perform their jobs to change over the next five years, and 35% believe that artificial intelligence will replace them outright. Younger generations, who use these tools most frequently, are also the most concerned about losing their jobs. While six in ten people in Thailand and Malaysia fear being replaced, the figure is barely one in seven in the Netherlands and Sweden.
I use AI even though I do not fully trust it
The contradiction between what people say and how they behave toward artificial intelligence is clearly captured by one figure. A total of 63% of respondents agree with the statement that they do not trust AI tools but use them anyway. Among people under 35, as many as two in three share this view. Ipsos attributes this approach to a fear of missing out on opportunities or becoming obsolete.
Caution nevertheless remains. Only 31% of people trust these tools enough not to check their work. A full 80% of respondents demand that companies be required to disclose their use of AI. Moreover, if generative AI responses were influenced by advertisers, 46% fewer people would trust it, and in fifteen countries this would apply to a majority of the population.
The issue of energy and water consumption also remains controversial. The view that AI’s potential benefits to society outweigh its environmental impacts is shared by 49% of respondents, while 37% disagree. People in English-speaking countries and Western Europe are particularly skeptical on this issue.
Experts see the future completely differently from the public
The Stanford report compared the views of the American public and AI experts and revealed enormous differences. A positive impact on how work is performed is expected by 73% of experts, but only 23% of the public. For the economy, the ratio is 69% to 21%, and for healthcare, 84% to 44%. The two groups similarly diverge on employment. A decline in the number of jobs over the next twenty years is expected by 64% of Americans, while only 5% predict an increase. Among experts, 39% expect a decline and 19% an increase. Both groups agree on occupations at risk, such as cashiers and journalists, but the public is more likely to expect job losses across the board.
Moreover, the American figures are gradually reversing. According to surveys by Research!America, 49% of Americans now lean toward the view that AI poses a risk to their quality of life, while 43% see it as beneficial. In 2020, the ratio was the opposite. Young people aged 18 to 24 are the most concerned, with six in ten seeing it as a risk.
Czechs mainly see AI as a tool for routine tasks
CVVM included questions about artificial intelligence in its survey for the first time this March and April. AI tools are used at least occasionally by 72% of Czechs, including 51% who use them at least once a week, while 27% never use them. A total of 68% of the population is aware of the development of this technology, whereas the remaining 31% have heard of it but, by their own account, know almost nothing about the subject.
Czechs identify assistance with work and routine or administrative tasks as the greatest benefit to humanity, mentioned by roughly a quarter of respondents. Nearly a third identified the weakening of critical thinking, laziness, and dependence on AI as the greatest risk. Moreover, there is exceptional agreement in the Czech Republic on one issue. A full 93% of people require the use of AI to be disclosed in generated texts and images, as well as during communication on social media, by email, or by phone.
