Most Americans believe that advanced artificial intelligence poses at least a moderate risk of human extinction. According to a published poll, about two-thirds of respondents stated that advanced AI could likely lead to the destruction of humanity.
Public Concerns About AI
In this poll, 17 percent of participants described this risk as "almost certain," and 20 percent described it as "significant." Additionally, 26 percent of other respondents assessed the risk as moderate. These concerns are observed among various political, gender, and age groups. For example, 70 percent of voters for Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for the 2024 presidential election, considered advanced AI to pose at least a moderate risk, while this figure was 60 percent for voters for Donald Trump.
Read more: Ramaphosa Calls for Independent Oversight of AI in BRICS
Opposition to Rapid AI Development
In addition to concerns, Americans have also shown greater support for slowing down AI development rather than continuing to build more advanced systems. According to this poll, 48 percent of participants believe that AI is "good enough" and its development should be halted to reduce risks, while 31 percent prefer to continue development due to its potential benefits. Among Harris voters, 58 percent supported halting development compared to 44 percent of Trump voters.
These findings come as prominent figures in the AI industry have warned about the potential dangers of this technology. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and billionaire Elon Musk have called for slowing down the development of advanced AI.
Nearly half of surveyed Americans said that AI leaders warning about the dangers of this technology genuinely believe their warnings. In contrast, 26 percent stated that such statements are made for marketing purposes and to demonstrate the power or importance of AI products.
The Trump administration continues to emphasize AI development as an economic and technological priority, ignoring warnings about existential risks. However, Republicans and Democrats in Washington are discussing how to balance AI safety with the U.S. need to compete with China.
Read more: A Woman from Michigan Achieved Live Communication with the Help of Paradromics Technology · Abdullah Alghamdi: Transformation in AI Risk Management Policies is Essential
