Public Priorities Between Worker Protection and Renewable Power in the AI Transition: Evidence From a Novel Randomized Survey Experiment

ABSTRACT The development of artificial intelligence (AI) creates simultaneous fiscal pressures on welfare provision and energy infrastructure, requiring governments to support workers exposed to technological displacement while also financing the low‐carbon energy generation needed by expanding data‐centre systems. This article investigates how citizens allocate priority between the social policy and energy demands generated by AI, and the political conflicts that may arise around it, using a survey experiment fielded in 2025 in six European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom). Findings show that European public opinion favours an equal allocation of resources between social protection for workers negatively affected by AI and investments in renewable energy for data centres. Although economic insecurity raises support for welfare spending, partisan identity drives the greatest divide: Voters of all mainstream parties favour investment in renewable energy, whereas only radical left and radical right voters prefer an even allocation of resources between the two policy domains. Variation in the type of social policy proposed—income support or training—yields only a weak and blurred effect on public preferences.