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Survey: AI Might Have an Issue with Public Trust

Accenture finds evidence that people would have a hard time trusting artificial intelligence to handle various activities.

Artificial intelligence could do…well, a lot of things. But before it can, it has some public relations hurdles to overcome.

This year, Accenture Federal Services tapped McGuire Research Services to survey 500 people in the Washington, D.C., area to ask about whether they would trust artificial intelligence to handle various pieces of their lives.

The results weren’t particularly great for AI. According to the data:

  • 51 percent of men and 47 percent of women would trust AI to handle government-issued identification.
  • 46 percent of men and 45 percent of women would trust AI-supported voter registration.
  • 43 percent of men and 38 percent of women would trust it for customer service.
  • 41 percent of men and 34 percent of women would trust it for tax purposes.
  • 39 percent of men and 27 percent of women would trust it to handle benefits.
  • 33 percent of men and 20 percent of women would trust it with health care.
The results showed a clear trend toward women trusting AI less than men, and when broken down by age range, it also indicated that millennials were more likely to trust AI than baby boomers.

Ben Miller is the associate editor of data and business for Government Technology. His reporting experience includes breaking news, business, community features and technical subjects. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in journalism from the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, and lives in Sacramento, Calif.