The UNDP study did not explain why trust in AI varies across countries with different levels of development. — Pixabay
A United Nations study found a sharp global divide on attitudes toward artificial intelligence, with trust strongest in low-income countries and scepticism high in wealthier ones.
More than six out of 10 people in developing nations said they have faith that AI systems serve the best interests of society, according to a UN Development Programme survey of 21 countries seen by Bloomberg News. In two-thirds of the countries surveyed, over half of respondents expressed some level of confidence that AI is being designed for good.
In China, where steady advances in AI are posing a challenge to US dominance, 83% of those surveyed said they trust the technology.
Like China, most developing countries that reported confidence in AI have "high” levels of development based on the UNDP’s Human Development Index, including Kyrgyzstan and Egypt. But the list also includes those with "medium” and "low” HDI scores like India, Nigeria and Pakistan.
Meanwhile, a larger share of the population in higher-income countries and those with "very high” HDI scores aren’t as trusting of AI and the institutions behind it.
They include the US, the current world leader in AI, as well as Germany, Australia and Greece. An outlier is Japan, where 65% of the population said they trust in AI.
The UNDP study did not explain why trust in AI varies across countries with different levels of development. But Heriberto Tapia, the agency’s research and strategic partnership advisor, said people’s perceptions are useful data points in and of themselves.
"If a company produces a new technology, but people do not trust it, then people are just not going to use it,” he said.
The researchers also asked respondents about their confidence in governments’ ability to use AI to improve people’s lives. The trends were very similar on average, with developing countries expressing more trust than developed nations.
Overall, individuals in developing countries have higher expectations of AI, the UNDP found. A part of their research published in May revealed that most people the developing world expect AI to boost productivity over the next year. – Bloomberg
