Artificial intelligence } UDaily

For decades, Hollywood has made millions off of our fears that artificial intelligences such as HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey and Skynet in The Terminator could one day control us or even wipe out humanity. Today, we have kindler, gentler, real-life AIs like iPhone's Siri and Amazon's Alexa, and according to a new survey overseen by a team of University of Delaware researchers, many of us are more than happy to include this technology in our daily lives. The results of the survey, released this month, show that almost half of all Americans say they use a voice-activated personal assistant such as Siri or Alexa. Those who use such assistants are particularly likely to support developing AI (63%) and public funding for research on it (46%), while those who do not utilize these services show less support (51% and 37%, respectively). Furthermore, people who use voice assistants are especially likely to see AI as having positive effects on society and to feel hopeful about the technology.