一项在Prolific.com上进行的调查显示，尽管美国民众总体上反对暂停人工智能（AI）发展，但在特定人群中存在显著支持。年龄在25岁以下和25-34岁的人群，以及65岁以上人群对暂停AI研究表现出较高支持度。女性比男性更倾向于支持暂停，失业和兼职者也比全职工作者更支持。此外，黑人和混血族裔人群对暂停的支持度最高，而亚裔人群则最低。人们支持暂停的主要原因是担心失业和对AI安全性的担忧，部分人还担心AI可能带来的“接管”风险。然而，许多人表示，只有在全球范围内同步暂停AI发展，他们才会支持，因为担心美国单方面暂停会导致中国在AI领域取得领先。

📊 **民众普遍反对AI暂停，但存在显著的细分支持**：调查显示，大多数美国民众反对暂停AI发展，但数据显示，年轻人群（25岁以下和25-34岁）、老年人群（65岁以上）、女性、失业或兼职人群，以及黑人和混血族裔人群，对暂停AI研究表现出更高的支持意愿。

💼 **就业担忧是核心驱动因素**：在人们支持暂停AI研究的评论中，“失业”是提及最多的原因，反映了对AI技术可能取代人类工作岗位的普遍担忧。

🛡️ **安全顾虑与“AI接管”的担忧并存**：除就业问题外，“安全顾虑”是另一个重要的支持暂停的原因，尽管许多受访者并未具体说明其担忧的具体内容。此外，相当一部分人明确表达了对AI可能“接管”的担忧，并因此支持暂停AI研究。

🌍 **全球性暂停的顾虑**：尽管许多人支持暂停AI发展，但他们同时也表达了对美国单方面暂停的担忧，认为这可能让其他国家（如中国）在AI领域获得优势。因此，他们更倾向于支持全球范围内的同步暂停。

Published on August 1, 2025 8:33 AM GMT

2025-08-01

Prolific.com survey on AI pause

I conducted a survey on Prolific.com on whether US citizens support a pause on further AI development. 1484 people responded.

Analysis

Overall more people are against a pause than for, but there is significant mainstream political support for a pause on further AI research in the United States.Age groups below 25 and 25-34 are most in support of a pause, followed by those above 65.Women are significantly more in support of a pause than men.People who are unemployed and part-time employed are significantly more in support of a pause than people with full-time employment.People of black and mixed ethnicity are most in support of a pause, by significant margin. People of Asian ethnicity are least in support of a pause, by significant margin.Based on the comments provided by people in the form
Job loss is the number one people reason people support an AI pause."Safety concerns" are the second reason, although many people have not been specific what this means to them.Significant number of people explicitly say they believe in the possibility of AI takeover and support AI pause for this reason.Significant number of people support a pause if it was conducted worldwide, but do not support US unilaterally pausing because of concerns China would catch up.
I strongly recommend reading the comments in full, there are hundreds of comments on an AI pause, I found a few of them insightful. Full response data is shared belowI also recommend doing your own data analysis and drawing your own conclusions. Full response data is shared below.Future surveys could include questions on more narrow demographics such as religion, STEM background, political leaning and influential people they defer to on this topic.

Raw data

Link to full response data

(Explicit consent was obtained via google form before publishing this.)

Prolific.com study details (filled before starting survey)

Study Name: Do you support a pause on further AI research? (Single question survey)Study Description: Only one question in this survey: Do you support a pause on further AI research?Data collection type: SurveyWhich devices can participants use to take your survey: Mobile, Tablet, DesktopDoes your study require any of the following: No (No Audio, No Camera, No Mic, No Software Download)Content warning: NoneWhat's the URL of your study: (link to google form here)Does your study have a limit of participants that can enter at the same time?: Don't limit participant access (recommended)Recording Prolific IDs, How do you want to record IDs?: A question in my studyCustom screening: NoCompletion paths, How do you want to process submissions?: Automatically approve the submission and pay the participantCompletion paths, redirect URL: (this code and URL was inserted into the completion of the google form)Recruit participants: Find new participants on ProlificParticipants: 1500 (study was later stopped before 1500 participants, as finding old mixed and other males was taking too long)Credentials required: NoLocation (of participants): USAStudy distribution: Representative sample (Distribute your study based on UK or USA census data)Representative sample criteria: USA, Factors: Sex, Age, Ethnicity (Simplified US Census)Estimated time to complete survey: 1 minutePayment: 0.10 GBP per participantTotal cost: 200 GBP (150 GBP to participants, 50 GBP to Prolific.com)

(~10 responses out of ~1500 were rejected due to minor issues with the approval system)

Prolific.com study details (after completing survey)

Eligible participants: 63773 of 176424Median time (to complete survey): 1 minute 22 seconds

Google form details (created before starting survey)

Title: Do you support a pause on further AI research?Text:

Background material OPTIONAL. https://youtube.com/shorts/n79CNY_NpBw?si=W5WxEnsQw3crKtEn

(About video)
(Video title: AI Experts on extinction risk)(Video Length: ~1 min)(Video previw opens in google form, no need to visit youtube to watch the video.)
Text:

Background material OPTIONAL. https://youtube.com/shorts/3Q4SXpY32TU?si=MwCaXDY33wGTh-8x

(About video)
(Video title: AI Experts on extinction risk)(Video Length: ~1.5 min)(Video previw opens in google form, no need to visit youtube to watch the video.)
Text:

Background material OPTIONAL. Letters signed by expertshttps://futureoflife.org/open-letter/pause-giant-ai-experiments/https://aistatement.com/

Checkbox question: (required)

Data privacy and consentData that will NOT be published publicly: Name, Prolific ID, Personally identifying info (email ID, phone, social media ID, home address)Data that will be published publicly: Responses to survey below, Fluent languages, country of birth/residence/citizenship, age, sex, ethnicity, student/employment status[ ] Yes, I consent

Multiple choice (single answer) question (required)

I support a pause on further AI research[ ] Strongly agree[ ] Weakly agree[ ] Neither agree nor disagree / No opinion on this topic[ ] Weakly disagree[ ] Strongly disagree

Short answer question: Prolific ID (required)Paragraph answer question: What are your thoughts on this topic? (OPTIONAL)

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