Optimism that AI will make human jobs easier is lowest in the developed world, especially in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Australia.
That is one of several insights from , the Harold Tanner Dean of Arts and 麻豆视频, who shared takeaways from his decade-long AI research on July 9, in 鈥?鈥 The lecture in Warren Hall was the first of the Cornell University School of Continuing Education鈥檚 .
鈥淭his pattern shows up over and over again: That in parts of the developing world, there鈥檚 more positivity about the effects of technology and artificial intelligence on the future and on life now than there is in the rich democratic West,鈥 Loewen told the more than 60 attendees.
He described how he and colleagues saw this pattern in a survey of public attitudes about AI that included approximately 24,000 people, about 1,000 from each of 21 different countries across 12 different languages, representing a majority of the world鈥檚 population.
, from this spring, Loewen examined attitudes about offshoring jobs and AI, focusing on job and price changes. Study participants said they were most concerned about price changes and favored AI over offshoring 鈥 but that favor is more marked among Democrats, hinting at an emerging partisan divide, said Loewen, who is professor of government in the 麻豆视频 and 麻豆视频 (A&S).
Loewen has spent a lot of time and effort working with government to figure out how AI can better be used within public service, he said. in the Journal of Public Policy, he examined the reasons why people might or might not want AI in government services.
鈥淥ne set of reasons has to do with fairness,鈥 Loewen said. 鈥淧eople recognize that humans are actually very arbitrary. We鈥檝e got all sorts of biases, we get tired, we make bad decisions, we鈥檙e not consistent, et cetera. And it is possible to design automated decision systems that don鈥檛 have those biases or inconsistencies in them.鈥
AI鈥檚 greater efficiency is another reason, he said. It can work faster, save money and detect fraud, Loewen said. While the researchers found that those who are more conservative emphasize fairness over efficiency, those who are more liberal like using automation and algorithms to make government more fair.
鈥淪o as politicians try to build public consent for the use of artificial intelligence, they have to confront the reality that people have different sets of reasons for why they would support it,鈥 Loewen said.
But governments wanting to use AI face a number of obstacles, from people鈥檚 innate resistance to change to their distrust of AI鈥檚 ability to make moral judgments, he added.
In another study, Loewen said he and colleagues found that the way people think about artificial intelligence in the U.S. and other places maps onto many of the ways they already think about politics and the economy.
鈥淧eople who think that artificial intelligence is more likely to substitute for their jobs are more likely to support policies that you can characterize as populist around immigration and around labor,鈥 said Loewen. In contrast, those who believe AI will complement and enhance their jobs think government should respond by increasing social spending, training workers for new careers and investing in education.
鈥淥ur main problems are not technological 鈥 they鈥檙e sociological,鈥 Loewen said. 鈥淎nd that will give you a sense of why it鈥檚 challenging to use artificial intelligence.鈥
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