Will AI have a positive or negative impact in generating news content? Consumers weigh in
As artificial intelligence continues to reshape how we live, consumers and brands increasingly question what AI’s impact will be on our lives in the future.
In a recent YouGov survey, we asked consumers across 18 international markets if they think AI will make things better, worse or have no impact across several dimensions of life in the next five years.
Of all the activities and categories asked about, data indicates that consumers across all markets are most likely to believe artificial intelligence (AI) will make a positive impact on things such as diagnosing medical diseases/conditions (43%) and building a travel itinerary (42%) in the next five years.
Areas where consumers are most likely to think AI will affect life negatively include providing customer service and driving a car or other vehicle (27% each). Nearly three-tenths (29%) think AI will have no impact on managing personal finances in the next five years.
An average of slightly more than a third of overall respondents think AI will have a positive impact in generating or summarizing news content (35%). However, around a fifth say AI will have no impact (21%) and nearly a quarter say AI will make things worse (20%).
Consumer opinions on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in generating or summarizing news content vary across 18 international markets.
Consumers in Indonesia, UAE and India have high expectations of AI’s impact in the news domain, with roughly three-fifths of respondents saying that AI will become better in generating or summarizing news content (62%, 61%, 60% respectively). Consumers in other Asian countries are also more likely to say AI will have a positive impact in news content, including Singapore (54%) and Hong Kong (52%).
On the other hand, in the United States, only 18% of consumers believe AI will have a positive impact on news content, the lowest of all surveyed markets. US adults are more likely to say AI will make generating or summarizing new content worse in the next five years (35%). Nearly three-tenths of consumers say they don’t know what impact AI will have in generating news content (28%).
Like US adults, Britons are also more likely to say AI will make things worse where generating news content is concerned (37%). While one in five Britons say AI will have a positive impact (20%), 17% are of the opinion that there will be no impact, while 26% don’t know.
Denmark and Sweden display mixed sentiments with sizable percentages expressing uncertainty or concerns. While more than a quarter of consumers in both markets believe that AI will make summarizing news better (27% in Denmark and 26% in Sweden), a similar proportion of consumers in each market say it will become worse (21% and 26%, respectively).
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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 between 437 and 2,045 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in June 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.
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