Which Countries Are Most Excited (Or Nervous) About AI?

Globally, there’s mixed feelings towards AI-powered products and services: 54% of people are excited, and 52% of people are nervous. However, feelings about AI differ substantially between countries.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist, by creator Julie R. Peasley looks at how these viewpoints vary among people in 31 different countries using data from Ipsos.

Feelings About AI by Country

Overall, people in Asia and South America are most excited about products and services using AI. However, it’s important to note that the samples in many of these countries were more urban, more educated, and/or more affluent than the general population.

People in Thailand lead in levels of excitement. Interestingly, they are most likely to say they think AI will make their job better in the near future, but are also most likely to say that AI will replace their current job.

Base: 22,816 adults under the age of 75 across 31 countries, interviewed May 26 – June 9, 2023. The survey was online only in all countries except India. The samples in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, and Türkiye are more urban, more educated, and/or more affluent than the general population.

In Sweden, people are the least excited. They are tied with Belgium and Ireland as being the least likely to say that AI-powered products and services have profoundly changed their daily life in the past 3-5 years. On top of this, they are least likely to believe AI will change how they do their job or replace their current job.

When it comes to Australia’s feelings about AI, the country has the highest nervousness. People there have low agreement with the statement that products and services using AI have more benefits than drawbacks. They also have some of the lowest levels of trust when it comes to AI bias and privacy concerns.

What Might Impact AI Sentiment?

People’s self-assessed knowledge of which types of products and services use artificial intelligence is connected to their feelings about AI.

For instance, countries where people rated their knowledge to be the lowest tended to have low levels of excitement and higher levels of nervousness. Conversely, when people rated their knowledge more highly, these countries tended to have higher excitement.

To learn which countries are hotbeds for AI innovation, check out this graphic on the number of AI startups by country.