Navigating AI’s Future

Navigating AI’s Future

How optimistic are people about AI? What risks concern them most? And do they want stronger regulation? This report reveals how people across 33 global markets view AI’s risks, benefits, and governance.

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Global Public Opinion Research on Risks, Benefits, and Responsibility of AI

AI is rapidly reshaping economies, workplaces, and everyday life. Yet despite growing debate about its benefits and risks, there is still limited global evidence on how people view AI and its implications.

While AI has the potential to drive innovation, productivity, and economic growth, it is also raising important questions about energy use, climate goals, jobs, inequality, misinformation, privacy, culture, and social trust. Around the world, policymakers, businesses, and citizens are increasingly grappling with how to harness AI’s benefits while managing its risks and ensuring that its development serves broader societal goals.

To help fill this evidence gap, we conducted one of the largest global studies of public attitudes toward AI to date. Spanning 33 markets across every major world region, the research explores perceptions of AI’s impact on innovation, climate change, energy use, jobs, living standards, misinformation, and regulation.

The research findings reveal both optimism and caution. While many people believe AI can deliver significant societal benefits, they also expect stronger safeguards, greater accountability, and clear evidence that its risks can be managed effectively.

Key takeaways:

• The public is cautiously optimistic about AI – two-thirds of people (66%) across the 33 markets surveyed believe the benefits of AI outweigh its risks. However, only one in five agree strongly, and attitudes vary significantly by region. Optimism is highest in Africa, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, while opinion is almost evenly divided in Europe and North America.
• People across the world want stronger regulation of AI – nearly nine in ten people (88%) support stronger rules and regulations governing the development and use of AI. Support is consistently high across regions, suggesting that demand for regulation does not equate to opposition to the technology.
• People see AI as a potential solution to major societal challenges, including climate change, but concerns about energy consumption, jobs, misinformation, and privacy remain significant. More people expect AI to help address environmental challenges than harm them, yet concerns about its broader impacts persist.

Together, these findings offer one of the clearest global pictures yet of how people are navigating AI’s opportunities, risks, and governance challenges.