The movies “I-Robot,” “Terminator,” and “RoboCop” have had a big impact on how Americans view artificial intelligence and robots. As robotic technology proliferates and becomes more human-like, there are growing concerns about its safe integration into human society.
This study defines social robots as “physically embodied artificial agents that can mimic the behavior of a living being and can interface socially, either verbally or non-verbally, with humans” (p. 1179). The authors used existing research to assess “people’s attitudes toward, trust in, anxiety associated with, and acceptance of social robots” (p. 1180).
The study reviewed 97 research papers published from 2005 to 2019. These papers used different tests to measure people’s attitudes toward social robots. They focused on how people feel and what they think about robots, how anxious they are about interacting with robots, if they trust robots, and if they would accept robots in our society. Overall, people expressed slightly positive feelings and thoughts about robots. Even though they weren’t sure if they could trust robots, they were willing to use them. In some of the included studies, participants had the opportunity to interact with a social robot, which may have affected their attitudes.
The study found that a person’s age was not a significant factor in how the person felt about robots. When it came to gender, females were more likely to trust robots, but no other significant associations were observed for gender.
In summary, this study shows that people have neutral to slightly positive attitudes but are neutral in terms of anxiety about social robots. They are open to the idea of interacting with robots in the future. However, the authors explained that their findings “should probably be considered a reflection of people’s initial attitudes toward social robots” (p. 1196). As people get more experience with robots and see what they can or cannot do, their opinions might change. Other research shows that when people believe that robots will replace their jobs, they develop negative attitudes towards robots.
Naneva, S., Gou, M. S., Webb, T. L., & Prescott, T. J. (2020). A systematic review of attitudes, anxiety, acceptance, and trust towards social robots. International Journal of Social Robotics, 12:1179–1201.
©Jennie Dilworth, Ph.D