Survey Finds One in Five Britons Expect AI Job Losses to Cause Civil Unrest

A survey of British adults and students found that 57 percent of the general public expect artificial intelligence to produce widespread unemployment. Just over one-fifth of respondents, 22 percent, said they believe AI will eliminate jobs quickly enough to trigger civil unrest.

Among university students the share holding that view reached 34 percent. The poll was conducted by The Policy Institute at King’s College London. It included 2,000 members of the general public, 1,000 people aged 16-29, 1,000 university students, and 500 employers.

Nearly seven in 10 workers, 69 percent, expressed concern about the economic effects of AI-driven job losses. The same concern was reported by 64 percent of employers. Just under half of the public, 48 percent, said they would prefer to avoid AI, while 40 percent said they are afraid of it.

Only 24 percent described AI as positive for humanity. More than four in 10 respondents said they expect to use AI in the future, while 26 percent said they will not.

Most workers, 55 percent, said they are not worried about AI replacing their own job. Across all groups surveyed, most respondents predicted that economic gains from AI will go mainly to wealthy investors and large companies rather than to workers or society.

Dr Bouke Klein Teeselink, lecturer in philosophy, politics, and economics at King’s College London, said the survey provides a window into how students, workers, and employers feel about AI and noted that effects on jobs are not fixed.