Urban Indians prefer automation in their homes but want humans for medical consultation & education

YouGov’s latest report reveals attitudes and beliefs towards AI across 17 global markets

YouGov’s latest technology report reveals the industries and institutions where consumers show enthusiasm for automation as well as the areas where they oppose it.

The report titled “International Technology Report 2021” examines the current state of beliefs toward AI and automation across 17 global markets geographies and 19,000 consumers and aims to help public and private sector organizations plan, while acknowledging and empathizing with human aspirations and concerns.

Data from the whitepaper shows that the emotional landscape in India around AI is dominated by positive feelings as most consumers express emotions such as Excitement (40%), Acceptance (33%), Optimism (28%), and Hope (29%) when asked to describe their feelings towards AI. Only a few feel skeptical (15%) towards AI or think it is unnecessary (13%).

A third of urban Indians feel that the impact of AI on society will be “More positive than negative.” But when compared to those who claim to be well-informed about the technology, the number increases significantly (from 32% to 50%), suggesting that knowledge and positive outlook are correlated to a great extent.

Automation and AI seem to have impacted many sectors of our lives, with varying levels of visibility to consumers. On a personal level, urban Indians are more comfortable with automation in their homes (64%), for online shopping (60%), and in manufacturing (60%) but prefer more human-led approaches in areas such as education, medical consultation, and government policies.

Likewise, when it comes to the industries, consumers believe AI will impact certain industries more greatly than others. Almost half of (47%) the consumers in India think that the Banking & Financial Services will be more profoundly impacted by AI, followed by Manufacturing (44%), Education (42%), and Communications (41%). Comparatively, a lesser proportion of respondents believe the effect of this technology to be more profound in areas of government (31%), city planning (28%), home (25%), and retail (25%).

When asked which entities do they trust to develop ethical automated solutions, consumers across the globe are more likely to put their trust in big, established companies over small ones, and the private sector more than the public sphere.

Among urban Indians, even though the big technology companies (55%) are trusted the most with this responsibility, trust in government (36% vs 16%) and emerging technology companies (36% vs 20%) is also high and is above the global average.

There also seems to be a national bias as consumers in India are less likely to trust the foreign governments to develop AI-based solutions as compared to their own (19% vs 36%). This shows that building trust and credibility will be crucial for institutions to reinforce positive consumer sentiment.

Click here to download the full report.