Public attitudes to data and AI: Tracker survey (Wave 4)
Report detailing the findings from the fourth wave of the Public Attitudes Tracker Survey, which monitors how attitudes towards data and AI vary over time.
Documents
Details
The Responsible Technology Adoption Unit (RTA) conducts an annual Public Attitudes Tracker Survey to understand attitudes towards data and data-driven technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), and how these attitudes change over time. This report builds on the findings from Wave 1, Wave 2 and Wave 3 of the Tracker Survey, providing insight on attitudes towards societal data use, levels of awareness and behavioural uptake of AI, expectations of AI’s impact on society, and preferences for data’s use in society. This research was conducted by Savanta on behalf of RTA.
Key findings
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Increasingly, the public agrees that data use is beneficial to society and recognises the useful role data can play in designing products and services that benefit them. However, while public attitudes regarding the value of data are becoming more positive, concerns about accountability persist.
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Public preferences for data sharing are primarily influenced by levels of overall trust in the organisations that are involved, with participants placing less importance on how the data is used or the safeguards that are in place.
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Despite nearly universal awareness of AI among the online population, the public’s associations with AI remain dominated by negative concepts reflecting widespread concerns about the impact of AI.
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The public increasingly uses AI chatbots for both personal and work-related matters, but despite growing prevalence there is a knowledge gap about how AI systems are trained.
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UK adults have mixed perceptions regarding AI’s societal and personal impact, highlighting the dual potential of AI to both provide benefits and generate concerns.
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Concerns about data security and the impact of AI are more pronounced among digitally disengaged individuals compared with the broader online population.
Next steps
The RTA has published this report along with relevant data tables to enable further examination of the data. Raw data and conjoint tables are available upon request from public-attitudes@dsit.gov.uk.
Along with other quantitative and qualitative projects run by the RTA Public Attitudes team, this work forms an important part of the evidence base that informs work within RTA and across Government. If you have any questions, suggestions, or would just like to share how you have used these insights, please get in touch at public-attitudes@dsit.gov.uk.