The plan is perceived as elitist, and an attempt to steal jobs. Both of which sparks public outrage.

(Steven, 2-29-24, POLITICO, “What really worries people about AI”, https://www.politico.com/newsletters/digital-future-daily/2024/02/29/what-really-worries-people-about-ai-00144224)

Strong opinions on artificial intelligence are easy to come by these days — and not just from the techies paid to make it, or the policy wonks paid to regulate it.

Even conversations with a film director, school principal, comedy writer or civil rights leader can veer into provocative debates about how this increasingly smart and powerful technology is reshaping day-to-day lives. (Seriously, bring it up over brunch and see what happens.)

New data published today reveal that when it comes to the greatest risks of AI, there’s a disconnect between what experts are worried about, and what the public most worries about — a clash of attitudes that could complicate Washington’s efforts to write the rules for a fast-evolving and highly disruptive new technology.

“It’s a tug of war in many cases,” Lee Rainie, the researcher who conducted the poll at Elon University in North Carolina, said on today’s POLITICO Tech podcast. “Sometimes the elite interests, in particular people who have skin in the game, get to prevail. But a lot of times it’s the public sentiment, certainly the public backlash to things, that can shape whether [regulations] get done or not.”

For the poll, Rainie and his team queried 1,000 members of the public and 250 academics, think tankers, industry reps and policy figures.

They found concerns that AI will have a negative impact on issues like employment, elections, wealth inequality and human rights were not evenly shared between experts and the wider public.

When it comes to AI’s impact on jobs, the poll showed that the public was more worried than experts — one of the few areas where public concern was higher. (Fifty-five percent of general public respondents fear AI will have a negative impact on jobs, compared to 43 percent of experts.) Despite the public worry, labor market disruption hasn’t always been high on Washington’s agenda: Instead, risks to national security, elections and public safety are often the drivers of major AI policy.

Other key findings in the Elon University poll include:

70 percent of experts said the impact of AI on wealth inequality would be more negative than positive, compared to 37 percent of public respondents.

Experts were also more concerned than the public about its negative impact on politics and elections (67 to 51 percent) and basic human rights (54 percent to 41 percent).

61 percent of experts said AI will have a negative impact on war. The public’s opinion was not polled .

The loss of privacy was the top concern for both groups, with 79 percent of experts and 66 percent of the public saying AI will have a negative impact.

Rainie said policymakers risk writing policies that ignite public backlash if they ignore the differences.

“There are always cautionary notes that are sounded in polls like the one that we did, where the public isn’t yet quite tuned in to all the things that elites are thinking about,” Rainie said. “There’s some possibility that elites might run away with things if they don’t take full account of how distributed public attitudes are.”