A Politico poll delivered a striking headline: a majority of Americans “think there’s a real risk AI will destroy humanity.”
The figures also show this is not a partisan belief, with similar percentages of Trump and Harris voters reporting real risk.
Another headline result: nearly half of Americans (48%) want to pause development of the technology. That number is a bit higher among Harris voters (58%) than Trump voters (44%).
Twenty-two percent said they didn’t know whether to pause or continue, leaving only 31% who don’t want to pause.
Still, I think it’s worth flagging that 63% acknowledge AI could wipe out humanity while only 48% want to pause. This could mean some Americans are holding a view similar to those at the major AI companies: “yes, there’s a real risk advanced AI could destroy all of humanity but let’s build it anyway.” It’s also possible the discrepancy is caused by question ambiguity: are we supporting a global pause or a US pause? The question doesn’t specify.
The analyses and opinions expressed on AI StopWatch reflect the views of the individual contributors and the sources they cover, and should not be taken as official positions of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute.