Effect of Artificial Intelligence on Social Trust in American Institutions
In recent decades, social scientists have debated declining levels of trust in American institutions. At the same time, many American institutions are coming under scrutiny for their use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. This paper analyzes the results of a survey experiment over a nationally...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Tsinghua University Press
2023-09-01
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| Series: | Journal of Social Computing |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.23919/JSC.2023.0022 |
| _version_ | 1797370425457508352 |
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| author | Andrew Collins Jason Jeffrey Jones |
| author_facet | Andrew Collins Jason Jeffrey Jones |
| author_sort | Andrew Collins |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In recent decades, social scientists have debated declining levels of trust in American institutions. At the same time, many American institutions are coming under scrutiny for their use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. This paper analyzes the results of a survey experiment over a nationally representative sample to gauge the effect that the use of AI has on the American public’s trust in their social institutions, including government, private corporations, police precincts, and hospitals. We find that artificial intelligence systems were associated with significant trust penalties when used by American police precincts, companies, and hospitals. These penalties were especially strong for American police precincts and, in most cases, were notably stronger than the trust penalties associated with the use of smartphone apps, implicit bias training, machine learning, and mindfulness training. Americans’ trust in institutions tends to be negatively impacted by the use of new tools. While there are significant variations in trust between different pairings of institutions and tools, generally speaking, institutions which use AI suffer the most significant loss of trust. American government agencies are a notable exception here, receiving a small but puzzling boost in trust when associated with the use of AI systems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T18:01:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5c6166ecdd7d4bc3899796d2d9a19215 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2688-5255 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T18:01:13Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | Tsinghua University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Social Computing |
| spelling | doaj.art-5c6166ecdd7d4bc3899796d2d9a192152024-01-02T01:16:48ZengTsinghua University PressJournal of Social Computing2688-52552023-09-014322123110.23919/JSC.2023.0022Effect of Artificial Intelligence on Social Trust in American InstitutionsAndrew Collins0Jason Jeffrey Jones1Department of Sociology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11790, USA.Department of Sociology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11790, USA.In recent decades, social scientists have debated declining levels of trust in American institutions. At the same time, many American institutions are coming under scrutiny for their use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. This paper analyzes the results of a survey experiment over a nationally representative sample to gauge the effect that the use of AI has on the American public’s trust in their social institutions, including government, private corporations, police precincts, and hospitals. We find that artificial intelligence systems were associated with significant trust penalties when used by American police precincts, companies, and hospitals. These penalties were especially strong for American police precincts and, in most cases, were notably stronger than the trust penalties associated with the use of smartphone apps, implicit bias training, machine learning, and mindfulness training. Americans’ trust in institutions tends to be negatively impacted by the use of new tools. While there are significant variations in trust between different pairings of institutions and tools, generally speaking, institutions which use AI suffer the most significant loss of trust. American government agencies are a notable exception here, receiving a small but puzzling boost in trust when associated with the use of AI systems.https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.23919/JSC.2023.0022social trustartificial intelligence (ai)algorithm aversion |
| spellingShingle | Andrew Collins Jason Jeffrey Jones Effect of Artificial Intelligence on Social Trust in American Institutions Journal of Social Computing social trust artificial intelligence (ai) algorithm aversion |
| title | Effect of Artificial Intelligence on Social Trust in American Institutions |
| title_full | Effect of Artificial Intelligence on Social Trust in American Institutions |
| title_fullStr | Effect of Artificial Intelligence on Social Trust in American Institutions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effect of Artificial Intelligence on Social Trust in American Institutions |
| title_short | Effect of Artificial Intelligence on Social Trust in American Institutions |
| title_sort | effect of artificial intelligence on social trust in american institutions |
| topic | social trust artificial intelligence (ai) algorithm aversion |
| url | https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.23919/JSC.2023.0022 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT andrewcollins effectofartificialintelligenceonsocialtrustinamericaninstitutions AT jasonjeffreyjones effectofartificialintelligenceonsocialtrustinamericaninstitutions |