The expert sample is not representative of the AI field, as Bender points out to Ars that AI is not a “thing” or even “a coherent set of technologies,” and an expert in one area doesn’t necessarily understand other areas. But still, Pew noted the key takeaway and conducted in-depth interviews to find out more about why men and women are or are not excited about AI.
“I think, broadly, some of the things that excite me are things like applications that can save people a lot of time from repetitive and mundane tasks,” one male expert respondent said, describing his excitement about automating workflows.
A female respondent expressed concerns about biometrics collected at airports, noting, “Where’s that data going? How is it being housed? Where is it being used for? Where is my consent? Can I really, truly say no, I don’t want my picture taken, but what is the consequence of me saying that and still trying to make it to my flight at home?”
But the “starkest” difference the survey found was in how AI experts and the public expect AI to impact jobs and the economy.
The public is “more anxious than experts about job loss,” Pew’s survey said. Where 73 percent of experts said that “AI will have a very or somewhat positive impact on how people do their jobs over the next 20 years,” that share dropped to 23 percent among US adults. And while 69 percent of experts think the economy will benefit from AI, just 21 percent of US adults predict the same. What’s more, “few in the public think AI will outperform humans on any of the tasks” the Pew survey explored, including parole decisions, medical diagnoses, hiring decisions, driving, providing customer service, or writing a song.
“Even as medical care is the one area in which the public is most optimistic about AI’s impact, experts are 40 percentage points more likely than the general population to believe it will positively affect medical care” (84 percent vs. 44 percent), Pew found.
