What Governs Attitudes Toward AI Adoption and Governance
This study investigates how people think about and govern AI using surveys and statistical modeling. The authors find that people's views on AI's benefits influenced their attitudes towards its use, but not how it should be governed.
Executive Summary
Designing effective and inclusive governance and public communication strategies for artificial intelligence (AI) requires understanding how stakeholders reason about its use and governance. This study examines the cultural values, perceived benefits, and sociodemographic factors that drive attitudes toward AI use and governance across six policy-relevant applications. Through surveys of 3,524 U.S. adults and 425 technology workers, findings highlight that individualism, egalitarianism, risk aversion, and techno-skepticism are key drivers of AI attitudes. Perceived benefit predicts support for AI use but less so for governance. Differences between public and expert views underscore the need for participatory AI governance emphasizing trust and inclusivity.