The vast majority of Mainers are pessimistic about the projected impact of artificial intelligence (AI) over the next decade according to a new Pine Tree State Poll, a States of Opinion Project, from the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.
Younger Mainers are significantly more skeptical that AI could be beneficial, with 85 percent believing that it will have a negative impact over the next ten years compared to just 52 percent of those over the age of 65.
This may be because many fear AI will eliminate jobs, which is a widely-held concern. Nationally, 50 percent of Americans are more skeptical than excited about advances in AI while 53 percent overall believe it will have a negative impact on creativity, according to a Pew Research survey.
In Maine, those 35 to 49 and 50 to 64 were found to have a similar level of skepticism toward the future of AI, with roughly three-quarters of both groups expecting the technology to have a negative impact in the coming years.
Despite this overall pessimism concerning AI, Mainers are actually somewhat optimistic about its potential application in the medical field, although this opinion is only shared by less than half of those surveyed.
Other fields — such as education, arts and entertainment, and election — produced much more widespread cynical results, with the vast majority believing the technology will have a negative effect.
When asked about their personal AI usage habits, just 10 percent of Mainers said that they engage with AI on a daily basis, while 41 percent report never using the technology.
Of all the age groups, those age 35 to 49 appear to be the most likely to use AI as just 24 percent indicated that they never interact with the technology, compared to roughly between 40 and 50 percent of the other age brackets.
The youngest Mainers surveyed, between the ages of 18 and 34, were the most AI-resistant age group with 51 percent reporting that they never use it.
Among those who do use AI, conducting web searches and seeking out information in general are the two most common ways that they choose to engage with the technology.
A somewhat sizeable 17 percent have said that they use AI for writing, followed by another 12 percent that use it for creativity.
70 percent of Mainers surveyed indicated a belief that AI will lead to there being fewer jobs over the next ten years. By comparison, just 16 percent said that they don’t think AI will have any meaningful effect in this regard.
Although there are some slight variations, political affiliation does not appear to be a major indicator of one’s opinion on the projected impact of AI on the job market, as roughly 70 to 80 percent of those identifying with most ideologies were pessimistic.
Exceptions to this are those who reported themselves to be socialists and libertarians. While 84 percent of socialists had a dim outlook on the impact of AI, the same was true for just 42 percent of libertarians.
