‘AI experts’ disagree with the public about whether it’s a good thing

“AI experts” are much more optimistic about AI than the general public, according to the latest report from Stanford University’s Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence group, which states that 73% of experts believe AI will be beneficial for jobs, while only 23% of US adults in general agree.

Before we conclude that the people who are the most knowledgeable about AI are the most optimistic, it bears mentioning that the survey referenced by the report was done back in 2024 by Pew Research, and defined “AI experts” as people “whose work or research relates to AI” and who were “authors or presenters at an AI-related conference in 2023 or 2024 and live in the US.”

In other words, the sort of people who might have attended Nvidia GTC last month—the big AI conference where Nvidia revealed DLSS 5—have positive feelings about AI. What a revelation! Next I’d like to hear from the gentleman in the back on the efficacy of that new health tonic he’s holding. Guaranteed to cure bilious disorders of the liver, you say? I’ll take 20!

I obviously don’t take that bit too seriously, but there are some interesting statistics in the report, which also gathered data from more recent surveys. A few takeaways:

• The US population is particularly skeptical of AI, with the lowest trust in its government’s AI regulation. That may have more to do with the current US government than AI, but the surveys also show particularly high nervousness around AI in the US (only Australia and India rank higher) and low trust in AI companies.
• AI optimism is highest in Southeast Asia: Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore.
• 79% of people say that companies that use AI should disclose it (via Ipsos). Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has argued that Steam’s AI disclosure policy “makes no sense,” but clearly the public isn’t in agreement.
• Investment in AI more than doubled last year, with private investment growing the most, and the rest mainly accounted for by mergers and acquisitions. US companies are by far the biggest private AI investors, though the report’s authors note that much of China’s investment may come from state funds.

You can read the full report on the Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence website. It also covers statistics related to the technical progress of LLMs (they can answer certain math questions but can’t tell time), AI adoption, data center development, and safety (“remains spotty”).