Business leaders and consumers are understandably reluctant to embrace AI right now – but research shows they don’t see federal oversight as the response to their concerns about the new technology.
With only 25% of business leaders and 13% of consumers fully trusting generative AI, the Biden Administration’s Executive Order governing the development and use of AI may appear to be a welcome development.
However, according to Metrigy’s Customer Experience Optimization 2023-24 global study of 641 companies, along with the Consumer Perspectives study of 502 consumers, government oversight is not viewed as a panacea by the majority of business leaders and consumers. In fact, only 30% of business leaders and 22% of consumers surveyed say government regulations would make them trust generative AI more. (Although the EO does apply to any type of AI, the rapid speed of generative AI’s adoption and capabilities presumably delivered incentive for the administration’s actions.)
IT, customer experience (CX), and business unit leaders see other areas as more effective at increasing their trust of AI. They include limiting the data AI can use to create content (56%) and human oversight of content creation (51%). Consumers agree on the latter (41%), along with limitations on AI’s capabilities (39%). But in the end, consumers are four times more likely to never fully trust AI than IT, CX, or business unit leaders, so efforts to placate consumers are paramount.
During our interviews with research participants, most said they would prefer AI be managed by a non-government-run standards body, including tech vendors, leaders in academia, researchers, IT leaders, and government officials that would jointly address areas of concern. They said standards bodies would be more efficient than a government task force or agency.
CHALLENGES OF THE EO
So does an executive order provide value? It may help, if executed properly, but it won’t eliminate risks. And it could potentially do more harm than good by stifling U.S. innovation. Falling behind other countries on AI development because of government bureaucracy would put the country at a disadvantage in a variety of areas, including defense, healthcare, energy, and technology innovation.
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