Letter from America

No, this isn’t a newsletter about the Proclaimers, it’s about a recent survey conducted by Pew Research on American attitudes to AI. Most of my readers are European of one sort or another, and I wondered if these findings were representative of your experience and thoughts.

The following is a summary of the Pew report. I’ve put in headings to keep me on track!

Broad Awareness/Varied Understanding: AI is no stranger to Americans, with 90% having heard about it. However, understanding its specific applications remains limited, with just 30% able to identify common AI examples in daily life. This gap in knowledge varies significantly across demographics, suggesting that education, age, and gender play key roles in AI literacy. Not surprisingly, the young tend to be the most prolific users.

ChatGPT: A Generative AI Phenomenon: The emergence of generative AI, epitomised by ChatGPT, has garnered substantial attention, even more so with the shenanigans going on at OpenAI this past week. (Despite 58% of Americans being aware of ChatGPT, only a fraction has hands-on experience with it. The program has particularly resonated with the younger generation, especially in educational settings. This raises questions about ethical use and academic integrity. Personally, I’m all for giving kids access to the very best tools. I’m of an age when calculators were banned in school. Did that benefit me? I can do mental arithmetic pretty fast, but I can also just use the calculator on my phone in a couple of clicks to get the same result. Let them use ChatGPT every day.

AI in the Workplace – Opportunities and Concerns: In the realm of employment, 19% of American workers find themselves in AI prone jobs, that is, jobs likely to be taken by AI. While the potential for AI to revolutionise the workplace is recognised, there's a clear resistance to AI's role in human centric decisions, such as hiring. This juxtaposition of opportunity and apprehension reflects the complex relationship between AI and the workforce. And it’s only going to get worse as AI improves.

Healthcare: High Hopes, Higher Hesitations: AI's promise in healthcare, particularly in diagnostics, is acknowledged by many Americans. However, there's a prevalent discomfort with over reliance on AI for patient care, underscoring concerns about the erosion of human interaction in medicine.

Regulatory Landscape – A Call for Caution: The call for stringent AI regulation is loud and clear, with significant support for overseeing applications like chatbots and autonomous vehicles. This reflects broader apprehensions about safety, privacy, and the hasty adoption of AI technologies. Americans want their government to act quickly, but largely understand the difficulties of them doing so.

The Dual Faces of AI: On one hand, AI is seen as a boon for routine tasks - everybody, despite their feelings otherwise on AI, seem very happy to have their chores done by AI - and a potential equaliser in addressing biases. On the other, there are fears about job displacement, loss of the human element, and misuse of data. It’s a muddled picture for sure.

So, what do you think? Does this accurately capture your sentiment? ChatGPT was released upon the world less than a year ago (30th November 2022) and the changes since have been overwhelming. I remain massively optimistic about where this ends up, but I understand the concerns of those who are uncertain about what will happen in their job, school, hospital. Please share your thoughts with me at [email protected]. If you want to read the report for greater insights, please click here