Technical and Humanities Students’ Perspectives on the Development and Sustainability of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Abstract

This study investigates how the development of artificial intelligence (AI) is perceived by the students enrolled in technical and humanistic specializations at two universities in Timisoara. It has an emphasis on identifying their attitudes towards the phenomenon, on the connotations associated with it, and on the possible impact of artificial intelligence on certain areas of the social life. Moreover, the present study reveals the students’ perceptions on the sustainability of these changes and developments, and therefore aims to reduce the possible negative impact on consumers, and at anticipate the changes that AI will produce in the future. In order to collect the data, the authors have used a quantitative research method. A questionnaire-based sociological survey was completed by 928 students, with a representation error of only ±3%. The analysis has shown that a great number of respondents have a positive attitude towards the emergence of AI, who believe it will influence society for the better. The results have also underscored underlying differences based on the respondents’ type of specialization (humanistic or technical), and their gender.

Perceptions of the Impact of High-Level-Machine-Intelligence from University Students in Taiwan: The Case for Human Professions, Autonomous Vehicles, and Smart Homes

“…For factors associated with perceptions of the impact of HLMI regarding various dimensions, previous studies suggested gender and study area might play a crucial role [24], and this observation was supported by this study. Furthermore, in addition to gender and study area, results of this study also found CS expertise to be a significant predictor in many cases, as shown in Table 4.…”

“…Even though there is a general "timing optimism" that AGI is to be achieved in the near future [1][2][3]7], extant literature that has looked into how people assess its overall impact have suggested mixed feelings, by experts and by university students alike [2,3,24]. The purposes of this present study were two-fold: first, to expand their findings by investigating how 562 Taiwanese university students perceived the overall impact of HLMI in three areas: one for human professions, with a set of 12 professions serving as indicators, and two for AI applications related to autonomous vehicles and to smart homes; and, secondly, to explore the predictors for these perceptions, especially for autonomous vehicles and smart homes, which had more empirical evidence to rely on.…”

“…Finally, to understand how university students perceive the development and sustainability of AI, a study was conducted with technical and humanistic specializations at two universities in Romania on their attitudes toward AI and its possible impact upon certain areas of social life [24]. Undergraduate students demonstrated a general positive attitude toward AI, with 58.3% believing the development will have a positive influence on society.…”

Contributions and Risks of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Building Smarter Cities: Insights from a Systematic Review of the Literature

“…On that very point, Gherhes and Obrad [188] report the findings of their study on technical and humanities student perspectives on the development and sustainability of AI. The study discloses that out of 928 participants 58.3% considers that AI will have a positive influence on the society.…”

“…On the other hand, the percentage of those confessing to being confused or concerned is also quite significant (41.7%). The probability that AI might destroy humankind and replace people in certain activities and jobs are among the greatest fears [188].…”