For Italians artificial intelligence is a positive technology but one that must be kept under control. One in three thinks it needs a ethical approach to AI, to understand the impact it can have on society and to develop security systems that prevent artificial intelligence from autonomously making decisions that could harm humans. This is what emerged in the days of the definitive agreement on the AI Act, the set of European rules on the use and development of artificial intelligence, from a survey conducted by Swg on the occasion of the special paper of Italian Tech (Gedi hub dedicated to new technologies) published by Repubblica tomorrow 12 December and dedicated to the people and tech companies that have stood out the most in 2023. The study highlights a growing concern about AI one year after the launch of ChatGpt, the generative AI that imitates human creativity.
Il 36% of respondents believe AI will eliminate many forms of jobs. Il 34% think that this technology will make men increasingly dependent on machinesAnd. Italians seem to know the limits and risks of this innovative technology, but not those who created and marketed it.
Only 27% of respondents, for example, know Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI and “father” of ChatGpt. Swg presented interviewees with a list of ten of the most influential people in the tech sector, more or less popular. Well Altman is only the sixth most recognized by those who participated in the survey. For Italians, the best-known tech faces belong to the “old” guard: Bill Gates (98% of those interviewed know who he is), Mark Zuckerberg (93%), Elon Musk (88%) e Jeff Bezos (79%). The last place in this special ranking, which also includes Tim Cook (49%), Sundar Pichai (18%), Satya Nadella (18%) e Evan Spiegel (17%), is occupied by Mira Murati, the Chief Technology Officer of OpenAI, recognized by only 15% of Italians. It is important to underline how the percentages of Altman and Murati, two icons of the youngest and most revolutionary technology, collapse in the range of 18-34 interviewees who in theory should make the most of ChatGpt’s potential – at school but also at work: Altman collects 23%, Murati does not go beyond 8%. However, the character that almost all Italians believe is not surprising crucial for the future: for 91% – with a peak of 98% among 18-34 year olds – Elon Musk it will have a “decisive” impact on the society we will live in in the coming years. Musk is the man at the helm of Tesla, the company that definitively pushed the car market towards electric and abandoning fossil fuels. And he is also the CEO of SpaceX, the aerospace company that one day, who knows, will transport man to the Moon and then to Mars. But Musk is also the owner of X, the platform once known as Twitter, where extremists and hate speech have recurred since the social network passed into his hands. So yes, for better or worse Musk could definitely have an impact on the future of the planet. Just as artificial intelligence will certainly have it.
And it must be interpreted in this sense data from Swg research which awards OpenAI, the company led by Altman, as the most influential company on society in the years to come: 91% of those interviewed believe so. A similar percentage is reserved for Google (90%), Amazon (91%), Microsoft (88%) and Meta (85%), i.e. the main big tech companies involved in the AI race. In one year, ChatGpt has conquered the world but in our country it is not as well known as you might think: only 64% of those who participated in the Swg survey know it. It doesn’t fare better than other popular generative AI subjects interviewed: only 22% know Bard, 15% Dall-E and Midjourney (two tools for creating images) and just 7% know what Grok is, the new artificial intelligence developed from xAI, one of Elon Musk’s many companies. But the future is not just AI. It will continue to be social. Those interviewed by SWG expect significant growth in TikTok over the next five years. For one in four Italians, however, the platform that will win over the most users in the near future does not yet exist. The best is yet to come.