Over half of those questioned said that AI could perform some aspects of their job, up from 38% in 2023, while 53% said that that AI could do the menial parts of their job, up from 16%.
However, the report also found that despite this rising confidence in AI, more than three in five (62%) globally think there should be a standardised system for flagging issues or inaccuracies with AI tools, and 57% have privacy concerns when interacting with AI-driven technologies.
The survey is interesting in that while it does highlight concerns related to deployment, it does appear to show that people are optimistic about AI’s capabilities.
According to the research, nearly half of workers across the countries covered (49%) expect to be collaborating with AI "colleagues," by 2050, with enthusiasm highest in India (62%) and lowest in the UK (34%).
The data was published as part of Innovating for our future: AI, quantum and an all-electric and connected society, a report which aims to build understanding of the public perception of what such a society might entail.
The report was published ahead of this year’s International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) General Assembly, where the international community will discuss standards across fields such as AI and technology.
Currently being hosted by the BSI in the UK the event sees around 1,200 experts from academia, industry, and government convene to discuss the technical standards governing the most advanced technologies.
While there seems to be growing confidence in AI, consumers were less familiar with other advanced technologies - in particular quantum computing.
To be honest I’m not surprised by that, considering the media attention that’s been focused on AI over the past 18 months and getting people to understand the ‘science’ that underscores quantum.
Only 40% said they felt that governments and experts in the field are proactively communicating enough about the opportunities and risks of supercomputing, and in the UK that figure falls to just 21%.
On the positive side 38% said the opportunities of supercomputers and quantum outweighed the risks, although the numbers again fell to just 24% in the UK and 30% in Germany.
The research found that 34% of people globally were concerned that wider adoption of supercomputing would increase dependence on computing technologies, and 29% expressed concern that it would dramatically increase global carbon emissions and, consequently, the impacts of climate change.
Innovating for our future also highlights public expectations of future technological advancements. By 2055, 41% expect to see AI systems capable of matching or surpassing human capabilities, while 42% foresee fully autonomous vehicles becoming part of daily life.
Innovations such as anti-aging drugs (33%) and space-based solar power (34%) are also expected to be on the horizon.
In India, expectations are particularly high, with 34% predicting flying personal vehicles and robot police officers (35%), in contrast to more reserved projections from the UK, 11% and 14% respectively.
Support for an all-electric and connected society was also strong, with 76% backing this transition, even if it requires sharing more personal data. The highest support came from China (96%) and India (89%), but in the UK, only 54% were in favour. A third of respondents believe this shift could improve participation in society for individuals with specific care needs, and the same proportion supports its role in enhancing public transport reliability and reducing emissions.
Commenting Scott Steedman, Director-General, Standards at BSI, said, “These results show that the UK falls well below other countries in terms of public confidence in emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and especially in future technologies, such as supercomputing. The lack of public trust in the UK in digital technologies is why we wanted to open our BSI conferences on AI and Quantum Computing to the public during our hosting of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in Edinburgh.”
Building trust in new technologies is critical as is creating strong and dependable market governance systems for all new technologies.
All these technologies have the potential to transform lives so frameworks that people can trust will be needed.
As Mark Thirlwell, Global Digital Director at BSI, acknowledged, “We have the opportunity to adapt and build an ecosystem that can ensure that these new technologies are appropriately governed, so that trust can be established, and innovation can flourish. This all begins with clear communication and education. If the public are to trust these emerging technologies, they need to understand them.”
That’s certainly all for the good, but what standards and regulations don’t address is the power and influence of large technology companies, which have amassed tremendous wealth and influence through their ownership of digital infrastructure and platforms.
That concentration of power and lack of accountability when it comes to Big Tech should be seen as an even bigger issue and is just as important when it comes to developing trust in technology.
