2025-08-08
I conducted a survey on Prolific.com on whether US citizens support a pause on further AI development. 1484 people responded.
I have selected a few of the comments from the dataset published below, that I found interesting. This is not a random selection.
Strongly agree - I believe that AI may have some benefits, but the consequences of a rogue AI or even just too much dependence on AI far outweigh the benefits. - 27, Male, White, Part-time employed
Strongly disagree - I think AI is a necessary evil, the further we develop it we’ll see the next few groundbreaking steps, but I believe AI is necessary, even if it does progress in the likes of Terminator. - 24, Male, Mixed
Strongly disagree - A pause won't stop anything because other regimes would continue. collective action problem - 38, Male, Other, Full-time employed
Strongly disagree - You won't get every country to agree to a pause, and even if they do, some might continue in secret. Whomever reaches AGI or ASI first is going to have a significant impact on and advantage in the future. We don't want that to be an adversarial nation. Also, less dramatically, AI provides the opportunity to shape a post-labor economy where people don't have to work anymore. There will be growing pains, but the future could be utopian. - 46, Male, White, Part-time employed, US
Strongly disagree - I don't think that AI will destroy the human race. I also think that the videos are deepfakes. - 60, Male, Black
Strongly agree - AI is going to wake up and destroy this planet and everybody on it - 59, Male, Black
Strongly disagree - I believe that AI should continue because it is helping many people. - 26, Female, Black
Strongly agree - I think that AI is getting out of hand and dangerous, especially with AI videos that are indistinguishable from reality. If we don't stop allowing this technology to evolve, it could get even more dangerous. The common sentiment I have been seeing online is that majority of people are sick of this. - 22, Female, White
Weakly agree - I do not agree with the AI statement linked above or think that AI poses an "extinction risk," but the rate at which datacenters are being expanded to power LLMs considerably contributes to climate change, which IS an existential risk. So I support the pause for environmental reasons. - 30, Female, White, Student and full-time employed
Strongly agree - Why would someone program an AI program to kill all humans? The programmers are human too! - 45, Female, White
Weakly disagree - i feel that man always think they are the smartest but God in Heaven will have the final say. Self destruction because one is too many and one thousand is never enough. Greed, power and the things of the world has led to this destruction. It has to play out now. - 56, Female, Black
Weakly agree - I only weakly agree because of the issues AI is causing in poor and rural communities. The usage is killing members of those communities. - 34, Female, Mixed
Weakly agree - I am not sure because I love how AI helps me with every aspect of my life and has drastically changed the quality of my life but I need to be more educated on what the overall goals and intentions are of AI so really at this point I need to gather more information. My partner's aunt recommended us this book on the subject. - 43, Female, Mixed, Full-time employed
Weakly agree - indifferent - 22, Female, White
Strongly agree - I believe that the environmental impacts of AI are too severe to keep ruthlessly expanding it and that we need to take time to build the infrastructure to support it IF it were to continue. - 21, Female, White
Weakly Agree - I disregard anything Musk has to say bc he's a fraud, so any video featuring him and his insight makes me skeptical of everyone in it. His only knowledgeable lies in spreading propaganda to morons and running businesses into the ground. That being said, I do sometimes think of the possibilities. Mostly bc my husband has been saying this ever since the Terminator movies came out and it can be terrifying to think about. I think we need to put the brakes on a bit and get some really strong regulations and oversight. Apologies for the rant. - 53, Female, White, Other employment
Strongly agree - The videos had the aha effect on me. I never thought about the negative implications of AI in terms of harming mankind with superintelligence. It's pretty scary. - 70, Female, White, Not in paid work
Strongly disagree - If we are still at a point where humans are in control, then humans should create a limit...a threshold...for AI to not be able to surpass. That is, "if" we are still at the point of being in control. I don't know if we are or if we are not. - 66, Female, White
Weakly disagree - The loudest voices in this fear of AI are the same people who think the government is nefarious and that COVID was a hoax. Many others seem to be against it because of a competing agenda. I think the concerns are overblown. - 55, Female, White
Neither agree nor disagree / No opinion - i think the way the people in those videos think. It's scary to think about and possible that AI will take over - 46, Female, Mixed, Not in paid work
Strongly agree - I think there’s enough predictions from people who know more about AI that are not necessarily positive outcomes for humanity. - 45, Female, Mixed, Unemployed
Weakly agree - I don’t think the general public is given enough information on the potential damage, including environmental, caused by furthering AI and I especially do not think the current US government is capable of meaningful strategic planning and effective federal controls. - 61, Female, White (German origin)
Weakly disagree - You would just let China take over. - 68, Male, White (Cuba origin), Other employment
Weakly agree - More developments of AI can lead to human extinction - 30, Male, Black (Kenya origin)
Strongly agree - I support but need to have clear policy to use. - 41, Female, Asian (Nepal origin)
Weakly disagre - AI has its pros and cons just like everything else. I am open to AI but know it can also do more harm than good in some cases and vice versa. - 43, Female, Asian (Korea origin)
Strongly agree - There are many other scientific ventured, such as medicine, global warming, food, clean water etc that need more widespread support than AI research does. AI is statistically horrible for the planet. - 28, Female, Asian (India origin), Unemployed
Weakly disagree - I believe a global pause on AI research is difficult to enforce at this point. From governments to companies to everyday social media users, AI is at people's fingertips — and as such someone somewhere will certainly want to study this theme. Perhaps a shift in perspective to better protocols and controls for AI development is a stronger alternative. - 26, Male, Other (Peru origin)
(~10 responses out of ~1500 were rejected due to minor issues with the approval system)
Do you support a pause on further AI research?Background material OPTIONAL.
https://youtube.com/shorts/n79CNY_NpBw?si=W5WxEnsQw3crKtEn
Background material OPTIONAL.
https://youtube.com/shorts/3Q4SXpY32TU?si=MwCaXDY33wGTh-8x
Background material OPTIONAL.
Letters signed by experts
https://futureoflife.org/open-letter/pause-giant-ai-experiments/
https://aistatement.com/
Data privacy and consent
Data that will NOT be published publicly: Name, Prolific ID, Personally identifying info (email ID, phone, social media ID, home address)
Data that will be published publicly: Responses to survey below, Fluent languages, country of birth/residence/citizenship, age, sex, ethnicity, student/employment status
[ ] Yes, I consent
I support a pause on further AI research
[ ] Strongly agree
[ ] Weakly agree
[ ] Neither agree nor disagree / No opinion on this topic
[ ] Weakly disagree
[ ] Strongly disagree
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