Most Canadians want government to regulate AI, poll finds
A majority of Canadian citizens believe artificial intelligence (AI) should be regulated to ensure the technology is used safely and responsibly, according to a survey published on 25 August.
The survey carried out by Leger, a North American market research firm, took place online between 22 August and 25 August, and involved answers from 1,518 respondents to questions about their views on AI.
It found that 85% of respondents said they supported AI regulation, and that 57% were “strongly in favour”.
Drilling down on this response, however, the poll found a variety of reasons among participants for supporting AI regulation. For example, 34% of respondents said they believed “AI is good for society”, while 36% said they believed it to be harmful. Another 31% meanwhile said they felt unsure either way.
The poll was published on the same day as another set of findings gathered by Toronto-based think tank The Dais, which pointed to both the risks and opportunities of AI and how it could impact government employment.
The report, which was funded by the Government of Canada’s Future Skills Program, estimated that 74% of the public sector workforce were “highly exposed to AI technologies based on their occupational attributes” compared to 56% of the overall Canadian labour force.
The extent of AI use across Canada
The Leger poll also identified variations in how much Canadians use AI. Over four in five (83%) of Canadians aged between 18 and 34 said that they had tried AI, while only around a third (34%) of those 55 and older said the same. Younger respondents showed a more positive view of AI than older participants, though positive views tended to correlate with greater AI use generally.
Just short of six in ten Canadians (57%) said they had already used an AI tool. When asked about their history of AI use in March earlier this year, less than half (47%) said the same.
The poll also asked AI users their opinion of the effects they believed AI would have on society. Nearly half (46%) said they feared reliance on the technology to gather information and solve problems could make them and others “intellectually lazy” and “weaken cognitive skills”.
Though younger participants aged 18-34 years took a more positive view of AI overall, the poll found they also showed the highest levels of concern about the technology’s potential negative impact on cognitive skills.
This year’s AccelerateGOV conference, co-hosted by the Government of Canada, will take place on December 9th, sharing insights from governments around the world on how to deliver better, more efficient and resilient digitally enabled public services with public servants from Canada and beyond.
This event is an opportunity to learn from government innovators, and will explore real-world transformation use cases in an increasingly complex and fast-changing world.
Find out more about the event and register to attend here.
Trust among Canadians in using AI
The poll found that perspectives varied between respondents on the trust Canadians placed in AI.
For simple household tasks, 64% of respondents said they trusted AI. For educational support, just short of half (48%) said they trusted the technology, while only around a third said they would trust AI to give health advice (36%). For financial or legal guidance, 32% and 31% respectively said they would trust AI. The lowest levels of trust were expressed when the idea of AI replacing teachers was presented (18%).
Commenting on the report to Canadian news site Global News, Jennifer McLeod Macey, senior vice-president of public affairs at Leger, said: “We know that public opinion around different types of AI vary on terms of how much we trust AI or how concerned we are with it. It won’t be a one-size-fits-all, it’s really quite nuanced.”
Read more: Troubling or trusted: Citizens’ sentiment on big tech in public sector AI
About Jack Aldane
Jack is a British journalist, cartoonist and podcaster. He graduated from Heythrop College London in 2009 with a BA in philosophy, before living and working in China for three years as a freelance reporter. After training in financial journalism at City University from 2013 to 2014, Jack worked at Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters before moving into editing magazines on global trade and development finance. Shortly after editing opinion writing for UnHerd, he joined the independent think tank ResPublica, where he led a media campaign to change the health and safety requirements around asbestos in UK public buildings. As host and producer of The Booking Club podcast – a conversation series featuring prominent authors and commentators at their favourite restaurants – Jack continues to engage today’s most distinguished thinkers on the biggest problems pertaining to ideology and power in the 21st century. He joined Global Government Forum as its Senior Staff Writer and Community Co-ordinator in 2021.
Related Posts
