Research and analysis

International survey of public opinion on AI safety

A new survey of public opinion in nine countries shows widespread support for AI safety testing.

From:
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation
Published
27 October 2023

Documents

International AI safety survey data tables

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 384 KB

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Details

The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation commissioned Deltapoll to conduct international research on public opinion towards AI safety ahead of the UK’s AI Safety Summit 2023. Respondents from the general public in nine countries – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the UK and the USA – expressed widespread support for AI safety testing.

Key findings:

  • When asked how much they agree or disagree that powerful AI should be tested by independent experts to ensure it is safe, most respondents in all countries agreed, ranging from 59% in Japan to 76% in the UK and Singapore.
  • When asked if they would support a government-backed AI safety institute evaluating powerful AI to test if it is safe, most respondents in all countries agreed, ranging from 51% in Japan to 65% in Italy, with 62% agreeing in the UK.
  • Across all the countries surveyed, the most useful applications of AI identified by respondents were ‘Using surveillance footage to detect crime’ and ‘Diagnosing a patient’s illness’.
  • In nearly all countries surveyed, more than half of the respondents were worried about the risk of AI being used to carry out cyberattacks, AI being used to help design biological weapons, and humans losing control of AI. In many instances the proportions of respondents worried about these risks were sizeable.
  • There was broad agreement across respondents from all countries surveyed that “mitigating the risk of extinction should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.” Agreement ranged from 56% in South Korea to 40% in Germany, but in no country surveyed is the proportion of respondents disagreeing above 13% (one in seven).
  • Opinion was divided over whether the potential risks of AI outweigh the potential benefits. In Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US, the largest proportion of respondents believed that AI has more risks than benefits. On the other hand, in Italy, Singapore and South Korea the largest proportion of respondents believed AI has more benefits than risks.

Methodology

Deltapoll interviewed 1,114 adult participants in Canada, 1,120 adult participants in France, 1,164 adult participants in Germany, 1,136 adult participants in Italy, 1,137 adult participants in Japan, 1,134 adult participants in Singapore, 1,142 adult participants in South Korea, 1,090 adult participants in the United Kingdom and 1,126 adult participants in the United States online between 9th and 13th October 2023. All data have been weighted to be representative of that country’s adult population as a whole.

Published 27 October 2023