Seeing is believing: societal differences in AI awareness and the link to AI-related beliefs

Abstract Today, there is a call for a responsible integration of AI into society. Building transparency and explainability into this integration is key, meaning AI should be understandable to end-users. Given the prevalence of AI in everyday technology, this focus on seeing into the black box misses a more fundamental need, that being an initial awareness of its presence. Using survey data collected from Australian ( $$n=303$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>n</mml:mi> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>303</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> ) and UK ( $$n=301$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>n</mml:mi> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>301</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> ) populations, this study estimates differences in awareness of AI across societal groups, as well as the relationship between AI awareness and beliefs about AI. Results demonstrate significantly lower awareness for traditionally digitally excluded groups, which is exacerbated for intersectional groupings such as those categorised by gender, age, and education. Further, lack of awareness predicts negative beliefs about AI. These findings highlight the importance of calibrating levels of AI visibility according to the needs of different people across society.