Data Descriptor for “Understanding and Perception of Automated Text Generation among the Public: Two Surveys with Representative Samples in Germany”

With the release of ChatGPT, text-generating AI became accessible to the general public virtually overnight, and automated text generation (ATG) became the focus of public debate. Previously, however, little attention had been paid to this area of AI, resulting in a gap in the research on people’s attitudes and perceptions of this technology. Therefore, two representative surveys among the German population were conducted before (March 2022) and after (July 2023) the release of ChatGPT to investigate people’s attitudes, concepts, and knowledge on ATG in detail. This data descriptor depicts the structure of the two datasets, the measures collected, and potential analysis approaches beyond the existing research paper. Other researchers are encouraged to take up these data sets and explore them further as suggested or as they deem appropriate.