Maybe We're Not So Afraid Of The Robot Apocalypse After All

Despite the best efforts of movies like Ex Machina, Morgan and Avengers: Age of Ultron, a new survey found that people from around the world largely see artificial intelligence having a more positive than negative impact on their lives and society in general. Communications firm Weber Shandwick has just published its "AI-Ready or Not: Artificial Intelligence Here We Come!" report, conducted with KRC Research, for marketers, surveying 2,100 consumers across five global markets on AI, its many uses, how they see it evolving, and how comfortable they are with that development. But don't go tearing up your plans for an unconnected cabin in the woods just yet, because even though consumer survey respondents were seven times more likely to see the sunny side of AI, a full one-third of respondents also admitted to knowing nothing about AI at all. The survey also interviewed 150 marketing executives (primarily CMOs) in the U.S., the U.K., and China responsible for the oversight and execution of marketing or branding activities at their organizations. On the consumer side, 77% of respondents would like AI's development to accelerate or remain at its current pace, two-thirds or more trust AI with handling medication reminders, travel directions, entertainment, targeted news, and manual labor and mechanics.