Trump keeps pushing AI. New poll reveals how voters rate his handling of it.
President Donald Trump keeps pushing for the development of AI — but a new poll showed Americans have concerns.
The new Quinnipiac University poll , released Tuesday, found that Trump just had a 25% approval rating on his handling of artificial intelligence among registered voters. Another 58% disapproved and 17% did not offer an opinion, according to the poll.
The poll was released as Trump unveiled a revamped America.gov website on Tuesday that is powered by an AI chatbot to help users get answers from government websites. Trump also signed a voluntary accord with tech leaders on Tuesday, in which the tech leaders promised to "self-police" the development of AI.
The accord, which is not enforceable by law, comes after a number of AI experts warned that the developing technology could pose a threat to humanity. Trump has repeatedly played down concerns about threats posed by AI, arguing that the U.S. must keep developing the technology to stay ahead of China.
He has argued that there is no need for guardrails surrounding AI. He also has taken issue with the name, artificial intelligence, and has proposed renaming it to "super intelligence."
The poll suggested Trump's approach to AI is not popular with voters. The poll found 71% of voters said they are more likely to back a political candidate who supports stricter guardrails for AI development, while 16% said they were more likely to support someone who wants to expand AI development.
It also showed 79% of voters think safety is more important than innovation when it comes to AI. Another 15% said innovation of AI is more important than safety, according to the poll.
"How concerned are voters about AI's potential to do harm? So concerned that nearly eight out of ten favor safety over the race to dominate development of AI. And voters say they would be more likely to vote for candidates who agree with that course," Tim Malloy, a polling analyst at Quinnipiac University, said in a statement.
It also found that AI data centers, which Trump staunchly supports , are unpopular with voters. Seventy-three percent of voters would oppose an AI data center in their community, while 21% would support it.
"Data centers, not long ago just the vague description for a network of massive structures needed for an emerging industry, are now the subject of the 'NIMBY' rallying cry. Voters overwhelmingly are saying 'not in my back yard'," Malloy said.
The poll was conducted among 1,032 self-identified registered voters between Sept. 24 and Sept. 27. There is a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
Stories by Lauren Sforza
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