Pew: 43% of respondents in mid-income nations trust China

On average 43 percent of respondents in a set of upper‑middle‑income countries trust China most to set rules for artificial intelligence, compared with 35 percent for the United States and 34 percent for the European Union, new Pew Research Center findings show. In countries such as Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka people preferred China over the United States or the EU on questions of AI governance and oversight, and Pew notes that positive views of China are especially high in upper‑middle‑income nations and have increased in many regions since last year.

The central finding of the survey—based on more than 50,000 interviews across 37 countries—is that far more people expect AI to reduce the number of jobs than expect it to create jobs, while a substantial share of respondents expressed uncertainty about the technology’s net effect on employment.

Job loss worries concentrated in wealthy countries

Pew’s results indicate concern about job destruction is stronger in high‑income nations. In Australia, South Korea and the United States roughly seven in ten adults say they believe AI will lead to a loss of job opportunities over the next 20 years. Wealthier countries also report greater worry than middle‑income countries about AI increasing economic inequality.

According to a Pew researcher, these attitudes correlate with levels of public awareness: people in high‑income countries report having heard or read more about AI, and those with higher awareness are more likely to view the technology as a driver of unemployment.

A shared pattern across both wealthy and middle‑income countries is that younger adults aged 18 to 34 express greater concern about AI‑related job cuts than older generations. Pew highlights this trend in Canada, France, Singapore, Sweden, Indonesia, India and Malaysia.

On the question of AI’s everyday integration into life, views are less lopsided: across the 37 surveyed countries 37 percent say they are more worried than excited about AI’s daily entry into life, while 41 percent report feeling equally excited and worried.

Those perceptions come amid growing public calls to slow the pace of AI development, a backdrop Pew cites as context for the survey’s findings.