AI Literacy

Differences in general knowledge about artificial intelligence (AI), and understanding of the benefits and dangers regarding AI, are becoming important topics of discussion in the field of technology. These differences in knowledge and understanding could influence how people trust and interact with AI across different populations. This research study will evaluate potential differences in levels of AI knowledge and trust among different demographics of people. There will be a specific focus on those populations who may have very different levels of knowledge and/or trust based on their race, culture, and gender. The study will utilize an online questionnaire being designed to evaluate a person’s AI literacy and trust. The aim of this study is to understand the relationship between one’s knowledge about AI and one’s trust towards AI.

Method: This survey will first be piloted using GSU undergraduate psychology student subject pool. The aim of this pilot study is to evaluate the initial questionnaire and to use these results to improve its questions and measurement attributes. This process may take a couple of iterations to finalize the AI Literacy questionnaire. Once completed, it will be used to evaluate more diverse populations in order to better understand the relationship between one’s knowledge about AI and one’s trust towards AI and how these relationships may differ among different populations.

Discussion: Such results which will provide a beginning framework for increasing the awareness of the benefits and dangers of AI in society. It is hypothesized that there will be an inverse linear relationship between the two key variables of interest; as a person’s general knowledge about AI increases, their trust will decrease. The questionnaire is currently under construction and initial review. However, as described above, future directions with this project will contribute to the present research literature on AI and the development of more equitable technologies that are trusted and free of bias.