Consumers Are Getting Less Trust In The Use Of Artificial Intelligence

JAKARTA - A new survey from Salesforce shows that consumers are experiencing an increasing "trust gap" with companies using artificial intelligence (AI), with many of them expressing concern about the potential for unethical use of this technology.

On August 28, the customer relationship management software company released survey results from more than 14,000 consumers and businesses in 25 countries showing nearly three-quarters of customers are concerned about the unethical use of AI.

More than 40% of consumers surveyed do not believe that companies will use AI ethically, and nearly 70% said that trust in companies is becoming more important as AI technology develops.

Salesforce highlighted that respondents have become less willing to use AI since last year.

In a 2022 survey, over 80% of business buyers and 65% of consumers are willing to use AI to enhance experiences—both of which have fallen to 73% and 51%, respectively.

More Problems

Meanwhile, a separate survey of nearly 1,500 Australians released on August 28 by market research firm Roy Morgan found that nearly 60% of respondents agreed that AI "creates more problems than it solves."

One in five respondents also believe these technologies will endanger human extinction by 2043—drawing on the concerns of AI experts who signed a letter in May stating that mitigating the risk of human extinction due to AI must be a global priority.

The Roy Morgan survey was conducted in conjunction with the newly formed advocacy group, Campaign for AI Safety.

However, while these surveys show a growing distrust of AI, another survey suggests the majority in the United States have never even heard of, let alone used, one of perhaps the most well-known AI chatbots.

A Pew Research research report on August 28 involving more than 5,000 Americans found that 18% of them had used OpenAI's ChatGPT.

About a quarter of respondents overall had heard of the chatbot, and of the group aware of ChatGPT, the vast majority were under 30 who had used the bot at least once, with about 40% having done so.

Men, those under 30, and those with postgraduate education are the most likely to have used ChatGPT.

As the global debate on AI regulation progresses, people from all walks of life in the United States who know about ChatGPT are concerned that the government is not doing enough to regulate the use of chatbot AI, with nearly 70% of them supporting stricter rules.