Will AI Enhance or Distort? Voters Weigh In

A recent national interactive poll of likely voters by John Zogby Strategies surveyed perceptions of the role AI currently has in media and whether or not AI will enhance voters’ understanding of the world at large in the future.

The exact question wording:

• Do you believe artificial intelligence is already generating news online?

• Overall, do you expect artificial intelligence will enhance your ability to understand the world, or greatly distort your ability to understand the world?

Highlights of the key demographic data include:

• On the question of whether or not AI is already generating news online – half (50%) of voters say yes a little, slightly more than one-fifth (22%) report yes a lot, and 8% believe it is not happening yet. Breaking down by party identification, there is no difference from overall voter results.

• Notably, two groups in particular, believe AI is already generating news online a lot – Hispanic voters (33%) and voters who attend religious services weekly or more (51%) – two bedrock traditionalist cohorts.

• On the expectation that AI will enhance or distort our understanding of the world – 46% of voters overall expect that AI will distort their understanding of the world – indicating a well-established trend defined by a prominent concern for the technology.

• Once again, party does not play much of a factor with all three mirroring closely enough the overall results. Stark differences are found within the following cohorts

• age – while all cohorts include half who say AI will distort their understanding of the world, younger cohorts tend to believe AI will enhance their understanding

.

• location – residents of large cities are most likely to believe it will enhance their understanding.

• race – only 18% of whites believe AI will enhance their understanding of the world compared with 40% of blacks and 42% of Hispanics who feel the same way about the future technology.

The topic of trust and transparency surrounding AI is a hot topic and will undoubtedly become more of an issue of prominence in the months ahead. Currently, it appears lines are being drawn in the sand.  Will voters’ opinions change as the level of transparency and understanding of AI evolves?