The Economist: “…Read the headlines in Western media and it may seem as though a backlash to AI is spreading fast everywhere. But so far, it is not. Mr Bae’s sunny disposition about AI is shared by almost two-thirds of South Koreans, according to a survey that GlobeScan, a polling firm, conducted for The Economist. Outside rich countries this good feeling is even more strongly shared: nearly nine in ten people in Nigeria and Vietnam, for example, said that AI will improve not only their own lives, but the lot of humanity (see chart 1).
The polling across 34 countries was carried out online, which could tilt attitudes in favour of AI. Yet in the same survey sentiment in rich Western countries was much gloomier. In America, Canada and France more people felt negatively than positively about AI’s future impact on humanity. In other Western countries sentiment was net-positive, but far less so than in the poor world. Another recent survey of 37 countries, carried out by Gallup with Microsoft, returned similar results: AI is broadly popular, but less so in rich Western countries.
Why the gap between the West and the rest? Some of the optimism may cool as more people in poor countries come into direct contact with AI or data centres, and see the technology helping or hurting some more than others. Around 9% of working-age Kenyans used AI in the second quarter of 2026, according to a study by Microsoft. Yet 85% told GlobeScan that it would change their lives for the better…(More)”.
