Over the past year, Barna has been partnering with Gloo to monitor the perceptions of artificial intelligence (AI) among U.S. adults and how this technology might affect Christian life and practice and the local church.
With each survey, we’ve learned increasingly more about how U.S. adults think about and use AI, including insights specifically surrounding the ethics of AI, generational differences, concerns among parents and perceptions among Christians and pastors.
One common theme in this research is the general misunderstanding—or perhaps lack of understanding—people have regarding what constitutes AI. For example, over two in five U.S. adults say they regularly use technology like smart home devices (45%), in-device assistants like Siri (42%) and facial recognition (40%)—all of which utilize AI. Yet when asked, “How often are you using AI in your personal life?” most U.S. adults say not very much (30%) or not at all (27%).
In Barna’s work, we know that how we ask questions and the words we use influence how respondents answer questions. So, we tested this in the latest round of research for the Faith & AI project. We measured perceptions of AI before and after a brief explanation of what AI is.
How did Barna explain AI? Here’s a summary of what was shared: Artificial Intelligence—also known as AI—is technology that makes machines capable of doing tasks that typically require human intelligence. This includes things like understanding language, recognizing patterns and making decisions. (For the full explanation that was shared with survey respondents, check out our About the Research section at the end of the article.)
