CIS - Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas

• Among people who are familiar with Artificial Intelligence, 75.7% say that uncertainty is the feeling that this new tool generates the most.
• 56.2% agree that AI can bring more harm than good to the labor market
• 86.9% say that Artificial Intelligence can be used to spread misinformation and hoaxes.

The CIS has conducted a survey on artificial intelligence, its use, and the public's knowledge of it.
96.4% of respondents believe that technological advances are causing changes in people's lives. The feelings these advances generate most in people are: interest for 68.3%, uncertainty in second place for 67.2%, and concern in third place for 58.4%.
Furthermore, the word most associated with technological advances among Spaniards is "power," with an average score of 7.72, followed by "progress" with 7.67, and "dependence" with 7.65.

Legal limits of AI

92.7% strongly or somewhat agree that companies and organizations should disclose when they use artificial intelligence instead of humans, and 93.4% strongly or somewhat agree that the programming and training of artificial intelligence should be regulated.

Data protection

93.7% say that data privacy on the internet is very important. Only 5.8% say they are not concerned about this privacy. Furthermore, 77% say they are "very or quite a lot" concerned about the use of their personal data on the internet by private companies. 21.2% say they are "a little or not at all" concerned about this issue.

In the case of public institutions that have access to personal data, the percentage of those concerned about the use of that data drops to 59.2%, while those who say they are "somewhat or not at all" concerned increases to 39.9%.
89.6% believe it is "very or fairly likely" that when they provide their information online, it is so that it can be used to send them commercial offers. 89.7% say it is "very or fairly likely" that their data could be used without their knowledge. And 85.5% say it is "very or fairly likely" that they could be a victim of fraud.

Disadvantages and benefits of AI

56.2% agree that AI can bring more harm than good to the labor market, 49.2% also believe it is detrimental to creation and art, while 66% agree that AI can bring many benefits to the field of health and medicine, and 62.3% believe it can also bring many benefits to industry.

Furthermore, 53.4% believe it can cause harm to culture, values, and ways of life, and 51.3% hold the same view regarding the protection of people's rights.

Among those familiar with artificial intelligence, 86.9% strongly or somewhat agree that AI can be used to spread misinformation and hoaxes, 80.6% believe it can facilitate the commission of crimes or illegal acts, and 72.2% say it can lead to greater global inequality.

Artificial Intelligence Tools

92.3% say they have heard of artificial intelligence tools for creating texts or programming.

Among those familiar with the new tools, 75.7% say uncertainty is the feeling they feel most strongly about them, 69.6% say it's concern, and 56.3% say it's interest. Furthermore, 41.1% say they've used ChatGPT in the last 12 months, which is one of the most well-known AI tools.

As for some human actions that could end up being replaced by robots, one of the most uncomfortable for Spaniards would be undergoing a medical operation performed by a robot, or speaking to an artificial intelligence, for example, in an information or customer service department.

Sale of personal data

76.8% strongly or somewhat agree that the collection of personal data for sale to third parties should be prohibited, and 75.8% strongly or somewhat disagree that privacy policies and online information about data processing should be clear and simple.

And 41.8% agree that governments should be responsible for protecting personal information when using the Internet, while 32.1% say it's the companies that collect that information that are responsible.

43.5% of respondents have heard about the EU's Artificial Intelligence Act being passed in 2024, while only 34.9% are aware of the 2023 request from AI experts and industry executives to pause its development and testing.
These and other data are collected in this survey conducted from February 6 to 15 with 4,004 interviews.

Press release