Practice vs. Panic: How Russians Are Mastering Artificial Intelligence

ROMIR together with the HSE School of Communications presented the results of the second annual study "Information Technologies as Perceived by Russians". This comprehensive project allows us to better understand how our society's attitude towards digital technologies and artificial intelligence is changing.

The uniqueness of the study is its longitudinal nature: we were able to track the dynamics of technology perception among a significant portion of respondents in the previous wave (81.2%), which makes it possible to see not just a snapshot, but also qualitative changes in people's views. The three-stage methodology, including media analysis and a sociological survey, provides a comprehensive view of the topic.

As noted by ROMIR President Andrey Milekhin: "Practical experience with AI radically changes the perception of its capabilities. The share of AI users has grown from 27.3% to 39.2%, and regular users - more than doubled: from 7.7% to 17.3%. At the same time, we see how the share of people who are convinced from their own experience that AI is inferior to humans in creative activity and generating new ideas is increasing. This suggests that practice wins over myths." The results of the study confirm that Russians for the most part remain technological optimists (61.5% see benefits). The share of those who are not worried about the penetration of technology has grown to 42.6%. It is noteworthy that a substitution has occurred in the public consciousness: artificial intelligence is now often perceived as a synonym for information technology in general. And most importantly, AI is increasingly seen as a familiar tool, and not just as a potential threat.