Where are consumers most – and least – worried about a potential AI takeover?

The emergence of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Midjourney has led to widespread speculation that it will change TV writing, software development, graphic design, music, erotica, puzzle games, and more. Naturally, this has also been accompanied by speculation that it will take over people’s livelihoods, and possibly the world.

Let’s deal with the latter question first: an AI takeover, according to global YouGov data, is not front of people’s minds. When given a list of concerns and asked which worries them most, just 5% cite the AI-pocalypse (at 9%, consumers in France are most concerned). By comparison, 6% are worried about a religious apocalypse.

The question of jobs is a bit more complicated, and varies a bit more heavily from region to region.

Overall, a quarter (27%) of the public say they’re very or fairly worried that computer programmes or robots will take their jobs, with just under half (46%) unworried. In APAC, concern is much higher, to the point where the public are split (42% vs. 43%); in Europe, by contrast, a sixth are worried (17%) while half are unworried (49%).

Concerns varies heavily from market to market too. In Indonesia (where our sample is of online adults), six in ten (62%) say they are worried about losing their roles to computer programmes or robots, with half of those in the UAE (49%) saying the same. Nearly as many consumers in India (46%) and Singapore (45%) express similar levels of concern. In North America, the most watchful consumers are those in Mexico (36%); in Europe, the Spanish public are most likely to be troubled by the prospect of losing work to the machines (31%). At the other end of the scale, the Nordics appear to be largely unworried about their careers being automated away (Sweden 9%, Denmark 8%).

All of this, of course, could change over time if tools like ChatGPT, Bard, Midjourney and DALL-E become more mainstream – and if the concerns around them become similarly relevant to people’s lives and livelihoods. We track these questions in 17 global markets, so we will revisit this question and see how attitudes change over time.

Methodology

YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 18 markets with sample sizes varying for each market. All surveys were conducted online in 2023. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.