More than three-quarters of mainlanders believe artificial intelligence will create new jobs. Much of the wider region is almost as optimistic, leading the rest of the world by a long shot.
You might be able to say a lot of things about mainlanders in our divisive, confrontational, geopolitical age, but one thing is certain. They are no Luddites.
An Ipsos survey published by Visual Capitalist on Wednesday shows that 77 percent, or more than three-quarters, believe that artificial intelligence will lead to new jobs being created in their own country.
Tech Enthusiasm
The survey took down the answers of respondents between the end of October and early November last year, interviewing 23,721 adults above the age of 18.
Although China came in first worldwide, the rest of the Asia Pacific region was almost as animated about it all, making up a total of six countries very tech-enthused countries in the top ten.
Above Global Average
Indonesia came second (74 percent), followed by Thailand (71 percent), with Malaysia in fifth (65 percent), India in sixth (58 percent) and Singapore in seventh (57 percent).
Although they didn’t make the top ten, the Philippines (11th, 43 percent ) and Australia (15th, 38 percent) were at or near the global average.
Tech Laggards
Ironically, some of the only regional naysayers were from current and former hotbeds of tech, with South Korea placing 18th as more than half the respondents thought it was unlikely AI would create jobs. Japan pulled up the rear, only making 25th.
The most pessimistic about the new tech was clearly Europe, which took 7 of the bottom spots, with the former home of the Luddite movement, the UK, placing 28th, as more than half of its workers saw no good coming from LLMs and natural language processing.
No Cradle, No Cry
There were other surprises. Switzerland, with its crypto-valley, corporates, and institutes of higher education that constantly exhort a gospel of innovation, came in at a very middling 23rd, with 55 percent of respondents having a rather negative take on AI matters.
The biggest revelation, however, was the US. Workers in the cradle of everything AI pretty much sat on the fence when it comes to matters of big tech. It only placed 21st, with slightly less than half of those surveyed thinking it would lead to new employment.
The Why
The imperative question here is figuring out why China is so much more optimistic about AI than the rest of the world.
According to Visual Capitalist, it is because the sector has experienced exponential growth on the mainland, and is supported by government initiatives, while it leads in academic research, even though the US is still better at turning them into products.
More Receptive
But it could also be something closer to home. China has been a cashless society for years and it is not uncommon to see robots substituting for humans when it comes to cleaning sidewalks or providing things like hotel room service.
More than others, they don't seem to be in the throes of existentialist doom-scrolling and appear to be very used to seeing the benefits of new technology first-hand.
