Out of 32 countries surveyed, New Zealanders have the second highest level of concern about AI (behind only Ireland). While 43% of New Zealanders say they are excited for products and services that use AI, significantly more (66%) say AI makes them nervous.
Ipsos, one of the world’s leading market research companies, has released the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Monitor 2024, a 32-country survey which tracks how people around the world feel about AI. Key findings for New Zealand include:
- 69% of New Zealanders say they have a good understanding of AI (up from 62% in 2023) – this is higher than the global average of 67%. Around 40% say they know which products and services use AI (up from 35% in 2023), which is lower than the global average of 52%.
- New Zealanders remain nervous about AI – 43% say they are excited for products and services that use AI, while significantly more (66%) say AI makes them nervous. This places New Zealand as the country with the second highest level of concern behind Ireland (67%). The global average for nervousness toward AI is 50%.
- Looking ahead, 64% of New Zealanders think AI will profoundly change their daily life in the next 3-5 years (in line with the global average of 66%). Only 37% said AI has already profoundly changed their life in the past 3-5 years (significantly lower than the global average of 50%).
- When it comes to disinformation, over half of New Zealanders (54%) think AI will make the spread of false information worse in the coming years. This places New Zealand with the second highest concern globally behind Sweden at 55% (the global average is 37%).
- 43% of New Zealanders say they trust AI to not discriminate or show bias towards any group of people, while 40% trust people to not discriminate or show bias. Globally, in 29 out of the 32 countries surveyed, more people think humans are more likely to discriminate against other people than AI is.
- On jobs, 47% of New Zealanders think it is likely that AI will change how they do their current job in the next five years, while 25% think AI will replace their job entirely in the next five years. This compares to global averages of 57% and 35% respectively.
Carin Hercock, Managing Director, Ipsos New Zealand, said: “New Zealand has the second highest level of nervousness about products and services using AI across the 32 countries Ipsos surveyed. When nearly half of New Zealanders think AI will change how they do their current jobs in the next five years, it might be time New Zealanders start getting more comfortable with AI.”
Amanda Dudding, Research Director, Public Affairs, Ipsos New Zealand, said: “Around two-thirds of New Zealanders are nervous about AI, making us one of the most concerned countries globally. Compared to other countries, we have a lower understanding of which products and services are using AI, and we’re more likely to think AI could worsen disinformation spread. This is likely driven by a lack of media coverage around how New Zealand companies are making the most of this technology.”
About the Ipsos AI Monitor
Ipsos conducted this study as part of its AI Monitor to understand how people around the world feel about AI. More than 23,000 people across 32 countries were surveyed, including 1000 people aged 18+ in New Zealand.
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