AI is high on the list of what Americans fear most

Americans are more afraid of what artificial intelligence might do to politics or the economy than they are of, for instance, cyberterrorism, climate change, or not having enough money for the future. This is all from a new survey just out from Chapman University.

Marketplace Future Effects correspondent David Brancaccio spoke about it with “Marketplace Morning Report” host Kimberly Adams. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

Kimberly Adams: So AI is climbing the ranks in this chart of all fears?

David Brancaccio: Yeah, it is. Chapman University in California does this scientific survey of what we fear and how much it frightens us. For the first time, fears of artificial intelligence doing bad things are now among our top 10 anxieties. Specifically, AI "harming the political process" is at No. 3, just behind fear of another World War. And the fear of AI "hurting the economy" is at No. 7, behind fear of a more general financial collapse. This isn't “robots stole my job;” it's worry about the systemic effects of AI, financially and politically.

Adams: AI destroying the world — you're just a barrel of laughs this morning, David.

Brancaccio: Well, I think the Chapman survey isn't about fear-mongering but fear-tracking. And the data was collected nationwide in the spring, so before we saw bipartisan opposition to data centers that power AI really hardening in communities. Reading down into the survey of fears, AI has us worried in many ways: Fear of AI hurting the environment is just behind fear of high medical bills, which was No. 18. Fear of AI replacing humans at work and fear of AI harming personal relationships are also in the top 25, just behind climate change or Iran, specifically, using nuclear weapons.

Adams: Did the survey identify areas of hope about technology more generally?

Brancaccio: I mean, people are more upbeat than scared about finding new ways to produce clean energy or about medical advances to help people live longer. But back to the fears again, we are more worried than hopeful about companies using tech to monitor employees, to genetically engineer babies, or people pairing off romantically with AI — I suppose like the Joaquin Phoenix movie, “Her.” People are more afraid than psyched about that.

But, interestingly, the survey found people who use AI a lot worry about it less. I don't know if that's familiarity breeds trust, or that techies are by nature techno-optimists. I couldn't tell from the data.

I mean, with all these fears here, what are you supposed to do with all this? I was asking myself, and I think it's really like a priority list. We've now triaged. If you want to make the world a better place, you know, in what order you should start.

Adams: But you haven't mentioned our "fear of fears" — what's at No. 1?

Brancaccio: That doesn't change: Year after year in this survey, No. 1 again is fear of corrupt government officials. More scary than World War, higher than AI hurting the economy, higher than fear of a loved one getting really sick — corrupt government officials.