Exploring AI Narratives: How and Why AI Is Portrayed Differently Among People

Since the spread of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, there has been an ongoing discussion in society regarding what AI is, what it can or cannot do, and what societal impacts it has. This discourse reveals society’s feelings, interpretations and expectations about AI. Given their impact on society’s interaction with AI, it is essential to understand why and how different AI narratives arise. We aim to investigate how AI narratives differ among different groups of people and what factors lead to varying perceptions of AI. We use a conceptualization of different factors influencing AI narratives and dimensions classifying AI narratives to guide examination and analysis of our explorative interviews. We offer four propositions regarding factors that might help to develop more realistic perceptions of AI to guide future work and to explain how and why AI is portrayed differently among different groups of people, and two recommendations for practitioners.