AI risks, opportunities, regulation: Views of US public and AI experts

AI experts are far more enthusiastic than the American public about the increased use of AI in daily life. The public, on the other hand, expresses far more concern. Roughly half of the experts surveyed say they are more excited than concerned (47%) about the increased use of AI in daily life. By contrast, only 11% of U.S. adults say this.

About half of U.S. adults (51%) say they are more concerned than excited. This drops dramatically to 15% among the experts surveyed.

What’s more, the U.S. public has become more concerned over recent years. The share who say they are more concerned than excited increased from about four-in-ten in 2021 and 2022 to roughly half in 2023.

Today, identical shares of both groups say that they are equally concerned and excited (38% each). 

By gender, among AI experts surveyed and U.S. adults

Among both the public and AI experts, men are more excited than women about the increased use of AI in daily life. The gender difference on excitement is wider among AI experts, though.

AI experts: A far greater share of men than women say they are more excited than concerned (53% vs. 30%). While just 11% of men say they’re more concerned than excited, that ticks up to 24% of women.

U.S. public: Men are again more likely than women to say they are more excited than concerned (15% vs. 7%). While 46% of men are more concerned, that rises slightly to 55% among women.

In in-depth interviews, we asked AI experts about what uses of AI excite them, and why. Some themes include making life easier or more efficient and improving outcomes for certain industries. (Quotes have been lightly edited for grammar and clarity.)

And we also asked experts what uses of AI concern them, and why. Some themes include data privacy and misinformation.

A 2021 Center survey found that some related themes also arose among U.S. adults when asked why they were either more concerned or more excited. 

Specific concerns about AI

Our new survey also gives us the chance to compare expert and public concern in several key areas, including those related to “deepfakes,” misinformation, job displacement and AI bias.

The public is more worried about losing jobs – and human connection – than AI experts. Continuing a theme from our broader body of research, we find the public is anxious about AI’s impact on work. More than half of U.S. adults are extremely or very concerned about AI eliminating jobs, versus a smaller share of experts surveyed (56% vs. 25%). The public also fears the loss of human connection more than experts do (57% vs. 37%).

There’s wide concern about inaccurate information. Seven-in-ten of the experts we surveyed and 66% of U.S. adults are highly worried about people getting inaccurate information from AI.

Impersonation and data misuse are also among the top concerns. The public is more worried about each of these things than experts – most U.S. adults are highly worried. Still, six-in-ten experts say they are extremely or very concerned about data misuse, and roughly two-thirds say this about AI being used to impersonate people.

Experts and the public align in their concerns about bias. Identical shares of each group (55%) are highly worried about this. About half or more of experts and the public also express notable concern about people not understanding what AI can do.

By gender, among AI experts surveyed and U.S. adults

There are gender differences on specific concerns about AI as well. Some of the biggest are on data misuse, bias and inaccurate information.

On the other hand, women feel similarly to men about impersonation and job loss.

Among the general public, most gender differences on this topic are minimal.

Loss of human connection is one place we see women being somewhat more concerned in both groups, though. Women are slightly more likely than men to be highly worried about AI leading to this, both among experts (45% vs. 35%) and the public (63% vs. 52%).

AI’s personal impact

For some, concerns about AI extend to how they see their own futures.

The public is more likely to foresee personal harm from AI than benefit, though there is notable uncertainty:

• 43% of U.S. adults say AI is more likely to harm them
• 24% say it’s more likely to benefit them
• 33% are unsure

In contrast, the AI experts we surveyed are widely optimistic:

• 76% of experts surveyed say AI is more likely to benefit them
• 15% say it’s more likely to harm them
• 9% are unsure

By gender, among U.S. adults and AI experts surveyed

Men stand out for thinking they’ll benefit from AI in both groups we surveyed.

Among U.S. adults, men are more likely to foresee personal benefit than women (31% vs. 18%). This gender difference is also present among the experts surveyed (81% vs. 64%).

Many of the conversations around harm in AI center around potential biases related to race, ethnicity and gender. These include examples from hiring algorithms to medical decision-making.

One way AI companies are dealing with potential racial and gender biases in their models is by improving how models are trained. At the same time, there are also calls for more diverse workforces to counteract bias. These efforts, though, have been met with pushback as companies scale back these initiatives.

We explored how the public and experts view the representation of six groups in this light, with questions we first asked in 2021.

How well are the views of racial and ethnic groups represented?

Both experts and the public believe White adults’ views are better-represented than other groups’ when it comes to AI design:

• 73% of experts we surveyed say the people designing AI take the experiences and views of White adults into account at least somewhat well.
• Half say the same for Asian adults and even smaller shares about Black (27%) or Hispanic (25%) adults.

The public is more uncertain than experts with roughly four-in-ten or more unsure about these issues. But the views of White adults’ representation again stand out:

• Four-in-ten U.S. adults say the perspectives of White adults are well-considered.
• Fewer say this about the views of Asian (25%), Black (19%) or Hispanic (17%) adults.

We saw similar patterns in which groups stand out as well-represented the last time we asked the public about their views on this in 2021.

By race and ethnicity, among U.S. adults and AI experts surveyed

Differences by race and ethnicity among the general public are mostly modest. Refer to Appendix B for how these views break down.

Among experts, there were not enough Black or Hispanic experts surveyed to be broken out into a separate analysis – reflecting the racial and ethnic makeup of the field as a whole. As always, these groups’ responses are incorporated into the general figures for experts’ views throughout this report.

How well are the views of men and women represented?

Considerable attention has been paid to women’s representation in the tech workforce – with many seeing them as underrepresented.

Both the public and the experts we surveyed see the views of women as less well-represented than men’s. Three-quarters of experts say the views of men are taken into account at least somewhat well by AI designers. In contrast, 44% say this about women’s views.

Again, the public is notably uncertain – about four-in-ten adults are unsure how well these views are accounted for. Still, they see men’s views as better accounted for than women’s (42% vs. 27%).

By gender, among AI experts surveyed and U.S. adults

Women themselves are less optimistic than men when asked about the views of their own group.

• Among experts: 50% of men vs. 27% of women say the people who design AI take women’s perspectives into account very or somewhat well.
• Among the public: 33% of men vs. 22% of women say the same.

Among experts, women are somewhat more optimistic than men when asked about men’s views (86% vs. 73% say these views are well-represented in AI). But there are no gender differences in this view among the public.

AI versus humans

We also asked experts and the public to consider if AI could perform and even improve upon jobs traditionally done by humans. In a number of cases, experts are more optimistic.

Experts are more likely than the public to say today’s AI could outperform humans on many tasks – like driving, customer service and loan decisions. For example, 51% of the experts we surveyed say AI would do a better job driving people around; 19% of the public say the same. (They could also say AI would do worse, about the same or that they weren’t sure.)

Few in the public think AI will outperform humans on any of the tasks we explored. The shares who say AI would do better than people whose job it is to do each task range from just 10% for parole decisions to 26% for medical diagnoses.

Still, some of these views are mixed overall, even among the experts we surveyed. And the public is often more unsure than experts. For example, when asked about customer service, 16% of U.S. adults and 4% of experts say they’re not sure who would do a better job.

Regulation and responsible use of AI

Lawmakers are debating who should regulate AI – and to what extent. We explored several aspects of these debates in our surveys.

Government regulation

Experts and the public are more worried government regulation will be too lax: The public and experts surveyed both more commonly say they are concerned that the U.S. government will not go far enough in regulating AI, rather than going too far.

At the same time, 21% of experts and 16% of U.S. adults say they’re uncertain about this. (The surveys were fielded in summer and fall 2024, before the change in presidential administration.)

By political party, among U.S. adults

Majorities of U.S. adults in both parties are more concerned about insufficient regulation.

Still, Democrats (64%) are more likely than Republicans (55%) to say this. (Both groups include those who lean toward the respective party throughout this report.)

Confidence in government and industry

Experts and U.S. adults are largely worried about insufficient regulation. But they’re also not convinced that the U.S. government can make it happen.

There’s little confidence in the government to regulate AI effectively: 62% of the public and 53% of AI experts surveyed have not too much or no confidence in the U.S. government to regulate AI effectively.

There’s also widespread skepticism that U.S. companies will do their part: 59% of the public and 55% of AI experts surveyed similarly lack confidence in U.S. companies to develop and use AI responsibly.

By political party, among U.S. adults

Republicans are more likely than Democrats to lack confidence in the government to regulate AI effectively (70% vs. 54% have not much or no confidence).

But they’re just as likely as Democrats to say they have not too much or no confidence about companies responsibly developing and using AI (60% of Republicans and 59% of Democrats, including those leaning to each party).

By job sector, among AI experts surveyed

Confidence in companies also varies by where experts work:

• 60% of AI experts working at a college or university have not too much or no confidence in companies to develop and use AI responsibly.
• 39% of those working at private companies or businesses say the same.

By comparison, experts in these sectors hold similar views of the government’s ability to effectively regulate AI.