Half of Canadians see AI as a threat, poll suggests

While artificial intelligence is considered a breakthrough technology, many Canadians want to pump the breaks on how quickly it’s advancing.

A growing number of Canadians are sounding the alarm over artificial intelligence.

A new poll shows half of Canadians now consider AI a threat — up from a similar survey conducted two years ago.

“The reality is we have a four-point increase now reaching 50 per cent of Canadians who believe that AI is a threat,” said Mario Canseco, president of Research Co., which conducted the poll.

The survey found nearly 80 per cent of Canadians are concerned about AI’s threat to jobs and the “dumbing down” of education. Just over 70 per cent worry it could even threaten human life.

Canseco says seniors are most likely to be skeptical.

“It’s the over-55 generation that is more likely to be worried about AI essentially making things harder for humanity,”

A quarter of those polled believe AI should be developed as quickly as possible.

Dr. Alan Mackworth, who has spent decades working in artificial intelligence and once built one of the world’s first robot soccer players, says while the risks are real, the rewards are too great to ignore.

He points to concerns about job losses and AI being used in online scams with fake text and images as one of the primary issues critics raise.

“We have to be concerned about maintaining human autonomy and human dignity. And, as robotics and AI become increasingly prevalent, there’s a clear need for regulation,” said Mackworth.

“I would say I’m cautiously optimistic, but very wary of some of the rogue uses of AI that have to be curtailed.”

Innovations in health care are one of the uses of AI he cites as indicating “there’s enormous potential for good.”

The survey shows many Canadians want a more cautious rollout.

“Most people gravitate towards ‘let’s handle this slowly,’ figure out a way in which we can make this better for humanity without jeopardizing existing jobs,” said Canseco.

Less than 40 percent of respondents said they trust the government to manage AI.

The survey was conducted online over a three day period this summer, among 1,001 adults.

“The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region in Canada,” Research Co.’s website says. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.