R0029/2026-03-27/Q002/SRC02/E01¶
Stanford HAI AI Index 2025: country-level variation and trend data on AI perceptions
URL: https://hai.stanford.edu/ai-index/2025-ai-index-report/public-opinion
Extract¶
Key findings from the Stanford HAI AI Index 2025 public opinion chapter:
Global trend: Share seeing AI as more beneficial than harmful rose from 52% (2022) to 55% (2024). Of 26 nations surveyed by Ipsos in both years, 18 saw an increase.
Country variation: China 83%, Indonesia 80%, Thailand 77% see AI as beneficial. Canada 40%, US 39%, Netherlands 36% — minority view in these countries.
Impact expectations: Two-thirds globally believe AI will significantly impact daily life within 3-5 years — up 6 percentage points since 2022.
Self-driving cars: 61% of Americans fear self-driving cars; only 13% trust them (AAA survey). Fear peaked at 68% in 2023, now declining.
Regulation: 73.7% of US local policymakers support AI regulation (2023), up from 55.7% (2022). Support stronger among Democrats (79.2%) than Republicans (55.5%).
Relevance to Hypotheses¶
| Hypothesis | Relationship | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| H1 | Supports | Advanced Western countries show minority positive sentiment |
| H2 | Contradicts | Global average (55% beneficial) barely above half; advanced economies below 50% |
| H3 | Supports | 47-percentage-point gap between Netherlands (36%) and China (83%) confirms context-dependence |
Context¶
The Stanford HAI report aggregates data from Ipsos, Gallup, AAA, and other sources, making it a meta-source rather than a primary survey. This increases reliability through triangulation.