Key Takeaways
- Regulation is the clearest global consensus on AI: Nearly nine in ten people across 33 markets (88%) agree that stronger rules and regulations are needed for AI, and 46 percent agree strongly, more than twice the share who strongly believe AI’s benefits outweigh its risks (20%). Only 2 percent strongly disagree.
- This is the one AI question regions do not split on: Support runs from 89 percent in Latin America to 88 percent in North America and Asia-Pacific, 87 percent in Africa and the Middle East, and 86 percent in Europe, a spread of barely three points across regions that disagree about almost everything else concerning AI.
- Wanting rules is not the same as opposing AI: China (90%) and India (89%), among the most AI-optimistic publics surveyed, call for stronger rules just as firmly as more skeptical Canada (89%) and the USA (85%). Enthusiasts and skeptics are asking for the same thing, which gives policymakers an exceptionally clear mandate to act.
Nearly Nine in Ten People Want Stronger AI Rules
Last week we showed how sharply the world splits on artificial intelligence, with 83 percent of people in China saying its benefits outweigh the risks against just 48 percent in the USA, and emerging economies and the West lining up on opposite sides of that divide. This week’s research shows the exception. GlobeScan’s new research about public attitudes on AI finds that global opinion is divided on almost every question except one. When GlobeScan asked people in 33 markets whether stronger rules and regulations are needed for the development and use of AI, the answer was close to unanimous, and it comes just as loudly from the markets most excited about AI as from those most worried by it.
Results show that nearly nine in ten people across the 33 markets (88%) agree that stronger rules and regulations are needed for AI, and almost half (46%) agree strongly, with a further 42 percent somewhat agreeing. Only 10 percent somewhat disagree and 2 percent strongly disagree. The share who strongly want regulation is more than twice the share who strongly believe AI’s benefits outweigh its risks (20%).
What is most striking is how little this varies. Agreement runs from 89 percent in Latin America to 88 percent in North America and Asia-Pacific, 87 percent in Africa and the Middle East, and 86 percent in Europe, a spread of barely three points across regions that disagree about almost everything else concerning AI. Even the lowest-scoring markets record strong support: Japan at 77 percent, and Sweden, Poland, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and South Korea between 80 and 82 percent. There is no market in the study where a majority opposes stronger AI rules.
Crucially, the demand for regulation is not a proxy for opposition to AI. China (90%) and India (89%), two of the most AI-optimistic publics surveyed, want stronger rules just as firmly as more skeptical Canada (89%) and the USA (85%). People who welcome the technology and people who fear it are asking for the same thing.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
Public opinion rarely offers policymakers a mandate this clear. Where support for AI itself is wide but shallow, support for governing it is both wide and deep, with 46 percent agreeing strongly and only 2 percent opposing strongly. The consistency across regions and levels of AI optimism means regulation is not a Western preoccupation or a symptom of technophobia; it is the condition most publics attach to their acceptance of the technology.
This reframes regulation as a route to public trust. Organizations seen as resisting effective safeguards risk undermining public trust in almost every market surveyed. For policymakers, the near-uniformity across regions makes international coordination more feasible than the polarized debate among governments and technology companies would suggest, since publics are not asking for different things in different places. In both cases, credible AI governance is now part of the license to operate.
How This Insight Was Generated: This analysis draws on insights from a GlobeScan public opinion survey conducted online among 32,106 respondents across 33 markets in July and August 2026.
Survey Question: For each of the following statements, please indicate if you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree. [We need stronger rules and regulations for the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI).]
