How Americans View AI and Its Impact on People and Society (pewresearch.org) 55
Key takeaways from a new survey by Pew Research: 1. Americans are much more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life, with a majority saying they want more control over how AI is used in their lives.
2. Far larger shares say AI will erode than improve people's ability to think creatively and form meaningful relationships.
3. At the same time, a majority is open to letting AI assist them with day-to-day tasks and activities.
4. Most Americans don't support AI playing a role in personal matters such as religion or matchmaking. They're more open to AI for heavy data analysis, such as for weather forecasting and developing new medicines.
5. Americans feel strongly that it's important to be able to tell if pictures, videos or text were made by AI or by humans. Yet many don't trust their own ability to spot AI-generated content.
2. Far larger shares say AI will erode than improve people's ability to think creatively and form meaningful relationships.
3. At the same time, a majority is open to letting AI assist them with day-to-day tasks and activities.
4. Most Americans don't support AI playing a role in personal matters such as religion or matchmaking. They're more open to AI for heavy data analysis, such as for weather forecasting and developing new medicines.
5. Americans feel strongly that it's important to be able to tell if pictures, videos or text were made by AI or by humans. Yet many don't trust their own ability to spot AI-generated content.
Instead (Score:4)
Rather than address these concerns, create regulations, or build in safeguards ...
They AI firms wi hire public relations firms and social media influencers.
Re:Instead (Score:5, Insightful)
These companies are not going to self regulate, especially the AI companies which have too many billions invested into them already, everyone with money is expecting to see huge returns on that, not a measured and regulated rollout of new tech. Only the law can do that now and there's likely a less than 1% chance of that happening in the next 2-3 years, there's no appetite and the admin is relying on AI to keep the stock market juiced up.
Public opinion isn't going to go very far right now. The opinions of large firms on AI could change if it starts to look like a liability on the books or if there is a bubble capable or bursting (which is going to be bad news all around but might need to happen) but not until then. The markets are not rational.
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There is actually a chance. The EU. Unless the AI peddlers want to not sell there or have two different models for anything. Not saying this is a very good chance though.
Obviously, customer "concerns" by US citizens will just be seen as a PR issue to be solved with the usual propaganda approaches. That works well on that user pool.
Re: Instead (Score:1)
With all new technologies (Score:3)
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Pornography is already widely available. Deepfake porn is mostly covered in "important to tell whether something's AI or not," and the rest is in "how AI is used in everyday life."
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Why would porn be an issue? There is already much more out there than anybody can consume. AI is not going to change that.
They didn't ask me, so here's my opinion (Score:1, Interesting)
Overall, I'm a fan of AI
I see great potential in AI tools and hope that AI tools develop to the point where they can help us solve previously intractable problems.
I use AI to get answers that I could get myself, but AI is faster and more convenient. Example, I'm using a new microprocessor with a 2000 page data sheet. I can read the while thing to find an answer, or use the feeble search function in the PDF reader, or just scan. All of these approaches take a lot of time and the datasheet is often confusing.
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I use it nearly the same, to ask very specific questions about firewalling, a fairly squirrelly topic. It's been quite helpful to shine a light into the dark corners of packet routing. Faster than searching/reading, and if has given me some good ideas on debugging. So it has provided me value.
But your other observations about gen AI for art, and far worse, becoming "friends" with AI, are both very neg
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Very rational observations, I could have written most of that if I got here first. (also no mod points atm)
I use it nearly the same, to ask very specific questions about firewalling, a fairly squirrelly topic.
You think firewalling is a difficult topic? Then maybe you should not be doing it? You are aware that if you do not catch just the wrong hallucination once, you might cause a major catastrophe, right?
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AI solved zero of my FW problems, but it was helpful to point out some debugging statements.
That's about the extent of it, and that's what I said. My trust level of this crap approaches zero, but it still can provide value in narrow cases.
Look Gwe, don't join garbz and oregonian and silvergun (short list) as the most famous
You've made many insighful comments here, don't waste your time punching down.
Fortunately for you you've got a long way to go to catch up
Re:They didn't ask me, so here's my opinion (Score:4, Interesting)
Call me old-fashioned, but by not browsing through the 2000 page datasheet while looking for the information you need, you also miss the opportunity of learning other information on the way, which will eventually clarify "why is the datasheet confusing on this or that point"...
Usually after reading and understanding, the datasheet becomes not so confusing anymore - and you gain insight on the microprocessor for which you are writing assembly code, leading you to making better, more efficient code.
If AI does this search job for you, your brain is not exercising, and at some point you'll have lost the ability to browse through large documents, gaining tidbits of information on the way, and progressively getting a better understanding of the bigger picture - which is actually a useful skill to have.
While it's comfortable and seemingly productive to use AI on the short term, I don't think it brings long-term benefits to us as professionals. If anything, it tends to dull our ability to analyze and understand things on our own.
Of course, do we still need to analyze and understand things on our own in 2025? An open question...
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I completely agree. Finding stuff is a process that makes you learn things. Cut that learning out and suffer. Most things are complex and one thing I find time and again when searching for something that I need to look into some other things as well. (Datasheets are a good example.) If "AI" gives people just a simplified picture that misses important aspects (have that happen to me on many of the more complex questions I asked and it is a reason why I keep LLM-use to a minimum), people will stay incompetent
Technofeudalism (Score:5, Insightful)
I can understand all of these concerns.
However, there is zero chance of any of these being addressed.
Our tech oligarchs run things and will steamroll any effort to restrict their control.
We are just the consumers.
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That's not how you spell serfs.
Vote against Technofeudalism (Score:3)
But first you need to make sure you can continue to even vote. Trump is doing all the things Erdoan, Putin and Orban did: vote full ticket Democrat next November.
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Trump is doing all the things Erdoan, Putin and Orban did: vote full ticket Democrat next November.
And what many more before him did. Trump is nowhere near intelligent enough to come up with his "strategy" by himself. A vote against Trump is actually a vote for "Democracy" at this time, sad as that is.
Dream come true. (Score:2)
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Dude, gitta real girlfriend.
In other words, (Score:4, Insightful)
Americans are displaying a lot of good sense when it comes to AI.
Now if only they would organize and agitate for a voice in the decision making, and a seat at the table when it comes to deploying AI.
I know that America has more immediate problems just now. But existing "AI" has arguably exacerbated and even created many of those problems. So maybe US citizens could put shouting across the chasm between Red and Blue on hold, hit 'Pause' on the Charlie Kirk morality play, and assign a higher priority to getting more (note the small 'd') democratic control over AI policy.
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So maybe US citizens could put shouting across the chasm between Red and Blue on hold, hit 'Pause' on the Charlie Kirk morality play, and assign a higher priority to getting more (note the small 'd') democratic control over AI policy.
Oh gosh, that would be nice but there's little chance of that happening when our President doesn't even pretend to be for all Americans and gleefully participates in heavy partisan drama. Trump is throwing gas on the fire almost every day with his social media habit.
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All Trump can really do is incite discord (and violence). As soon as things quiet down enough, it would become obvious how pathetic his results and his person actually are. And he knows he cannot allow that to happen.
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All Trump can really do is incite discord (and violence)
No, he's done and will continue to try to do plenty of other awful things. I would find it a relief if the only problem this administration posed for America was the discord caused by his social media habit.
Good news is some major polls just got published and even Republican support for him is tanking https://apnews.com/article/pol... [apnews.com] which ups the odds of him losing congress a year from now which might actually get us to the point where his social habit is our only major problem. Of course a year is a long
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Are they (displaying good sense) though? It seems to me like all talk and no action. They complain and worry, but go right on using it anyway.
WTF Religion? (Score:1)
Who is using AI for religion? A glorified E-Meter?
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I use it to help me put notes together for a weekly Bible study that I teach. It's *really* good at it. I can ask questions like "What does the Bible say about money management?" It helpfully spits out a list of specific passages, grouped in categories. I don't have to do word searches hoping to find related passages. So it cuts my prep time significantly.
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What's your favorite Bible search engine?
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https://www.biblegateway.com/ [biblegateway.com]
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a weekly Bible study that I teach.
Found your problem. Obviously AI is really good at helping you push made-up stories. And since nobody is going to do any fact-checking anyways, even the occasional hallucination does not matter.
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I don't mind your put-downs, it's kind of expected. There is, in fact, significant historical evidence for the death and resurrection of Jesus. Lee Strobel does a great job of laying out the evidence. https://www.amazon.com/Case-Ch... [amazon.com]
I suggest you only read the book if you can keep an open mind. That will be hard, given that you too are religious, even if you don't admit it. You have a specific belief about God (that he's made up). Atheism is as much a religion as Islam or witchcraft. If you were not religi
Late Stage Capitalism (Score:3)
The fear about AI in the US is probably that the work AI is assisting with or replacing is not then followed by another industry for effected/replaced humans to step or grow into. Late stage capitalism is simply trying to figure out how not pay Europeans and North Americans middle class wages with this new form of automation. Without the middle class, who is going to buy all the things business are selling? 100,000 wealthy families don't need 200,000,000 shiny new iPhones, 3,000,000 automobiles, or 100,000 flights per day.
Coach and whip makers were replaced by the automobile industry which employs millions of workers through it's massive and complex supply chain. No one was trying to make coaches and whips without humans to increase profit, it was subsumed by an entire other industry.
Weavers were replaced by automated weaving looms that made textiles incredibly affordable to most people spurring growth in upholstery/furniture and clothing. While the goal was to make textiles faster and consequently with fewer humans, it was a permanent boon to business that already used textiles, increasing economic opportunities for average people by providing less expensive goods and lowered the barrier to entry for textile based businesses.
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People keep using that phrase, but I don't think they know what it means.
"Late Stage Capitalism" would be an economy that is dominated by a few massive monopolies that mistreat people at every turn, and that stifle all small business activity.
In reality, yes, there are some big, "evil" companies. But they are far from controlling our lives, there are alternatives for those who want them. More importantly, small business is thriving in America. https://www.uschamber.com/smal... [uschamber.com]
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Late stage capitalism is thrown about when it looks like various business have run out of ideas to extract wealth from society and chose to reduce human capital, lower wages, pursue rent seeking behavior, and/or overtly buy government favor. They want to be Rent-A-Center, but not just for TVs and junk furniture, but for your whole life. If regular people don't have decent jobs, where is all that sweet, sweet rent money going to come from?
Yes, small business in the US is still incredibly important to overa
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Yes, these unwanted behaviors have always been with us. It won't be "late stage capitalism" until there are no young, aspiring companies forming to replace the aging, powerful, grumpy old companies.
Even monopolies come and go. Standard Oil, AT&T, American Tobacco, Alcoa, IBM, Internet Explorer. Google Search is now declining as AI starts to rise. There will be AI monopolies as well, but they won't be forever, nor will they foretell the demise of capitalism.
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Ironically that's not the original meaning either, and I suspect if Sombart's ideas had played out we'd all be living in something other than capitalism already. The term was supposed to refer to everything post WW1 when he coined it, in the backdrop of the Weimar republic's terrible economic problems. Post WW2 we saw a complete new capital cycle play out, with the drama of the cold war ending up somewhat peripheral to it.
People might be observing that we're in another gilded age with some accuracy, but the
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seeking* efficiency.
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These days it's just sort of a catchall term for the pointlessness of hustle culture, I guess
Yes, that I agree with. Sometimes it's useful to point out that the term has to actually mean something. Otherwise, it's no different than using the word "woke" on the right or "ruling class" on the left. Neither term has any real meaning.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't know if the comparison is that close... I see what you're saying but it the severity of the terms just doesn't match up, linguistic drift does exist... but also one should probably consider the original context more broadly when making a comparison like this one.
For example, 'woke' is obviously being used by the right as a loaded pejorative, and it's a kind of naked dogwhistle appeal to the idea that the abolition of slavery was a bad thing. That might have sounded like a hyperbolic argument once, b
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Indeed. The core problem is that "AI" (well, LLMs) do not actually produce anything new or different. It is just making some essentially non-productive things easier. Hence there will not be a replacement industry.
For example, it can be used to automate bureaucracy, which just means we will get more of it. And it can make better ads, better propaganda and better scams. None of which is helpful on a society level. These all only serve to distribute what is there in wealth differently.
So yes, I think this ti
All talk, no action (Score:2)
People have worries about AI, yes. But they blissfully use it as if there's nothing to worry about. If we were truly worried about it, we'd stop using it. Good luck with that.
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People struggle to get through their daily lives. They do not have the resources to spare not not use AI when it becomes the easier way. And then there is peer-pressure and FOMO.
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There is another category of people: those of us who embrace it fully, seeing the potential for what it can do.
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Yep, there are always groups of people that are even more stupid. You are clearly part of one.
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And there are always Luddites.
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Google enshittifies web-pages (Score:2)
A couple o' times, this year, I've run into Google Online Grammar Checker: There are no instructions anywhere, on operating this feature. Maybe, because, the feature doesn't, in fact, do anything. It presents a 'suggestion' pop-up: No buttons, not even a "cancel" button in sight. Any use of the keyboard cancels edit mode and, thankfully, the pop-up.
So far, the answer is delete the line of text containing the offending grammar and type something less upsetting to Google.
I'll respect AI when it calcu
Re: (Score:2)
I just asked ChatGPT "Is Microsoft willfully enshittifying its products?".
It essentially said "yes" to enshittification, but was unsure whether it is incompetence or maliciousness. Hence it clearly is not there yet, because while there is clearly massive organizational dysfunction at Microsoft, there is quite clearly intent as well. For example, making things harder to use (o365, W11) will very clearly show up on their own user-testing, but they also very clearly have decided that wasting more user time is
Reminds me (Score:2)
> 2. Far larger shares say AI will erode than improve people's ability to think creatively and form meaningful relationships.
Don't let AI control relationships..
https://youtu.be/NyftLcV7lXM?s... [youtu.be]
There is one takeaway that deserves a deeper look (Score:2)
The broad concern from this poll is clear: half of Americans say they’re more worried than excited about AI in daily life. But a key finding that truly crystallizes the issue is this:
76% of Americans say it’s extremely or very important to be able to tell if content was made by AI—yet a majority, 53%, admit they aren’t confident they could actually do it.
That disconnect is dismaying, because deception isn’t new. Politicians shape stump speeches into whatever “reality