Survey Assessing Risks from AI 2024

Understanding Australian public views on AI risks and governance

We conducted a representative survey of Australian adults to understand public perceptions of AI risks and governance actions.

2-Page Brief Full Report

Key Insights

Comparing surveys: View 2025 findings

2024 Survey (1,141 Australians): Australians are most concerned about AI risks where AI acts unsafely, is misused, or displaces jobs. They judge “preventing dangerous and catastrophic outcomes from AI” the #1 priority for the Australian Government in AI; 9 in 10 Australians support creating a new regulatory body for AI.

The majority of Australians (8 in 10) support the statement that “mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war”.

What This Means for Australia

Strong public mandate for action: With 9 in 10 Australians supporting a new regulatory body for AI, and “preventing dangerous and catastrophic outcomes from AI” rated as the top government priority, there is overwhelming public support for robust AI governance.

Risk awareness is broad: Australians recognize diverse AI risks—from current harms like misinformation and job displacement to potential catastrophic outcomes. This comprehensive risk awareness supports a governance framework that addresses both near-term and long-term challenges.

Global perspective: The strong support (8 in 10 Australians) for treating AI extinction risk as a global priority alongside pandemics and nuclear war shows public understanding that AI governance requires international cooperation and serious attention.

How to Read This Research

2-Page Summary (PDF) - Key findings
2-Page Summary (Google Doc) - Editable version for sharing and commenting
2024 Technical Report (interactive report) - Full findings with data visualizations, read online
2024 Technical Report (SSRN PDF) - Published academic version for citation

Suggested citation: Saeri, A.K., Noetel, M., & Graham, J. (2024). Survey Assessing Risks from Artificial Intelligence: Technical Report. SSRN. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4750953

Australians are concerned about diverse risks from AI

Chart showing Australian public concern levels across different AI risk categories. Preventing dangerous and catastrophic AI outcomes rates as the top government priority, with strong concern also shown for AI misuse, AI accidents causing harm, and job displacement from AI. The data shows widespread awareness of both near-term and long-term AI risks.

Australians support regulatory and non-regulatory action to address AI risks

Chart displaying Australian support levels for various AI governance actions. Shows overwhelming support (9 in 10 Australians) for creating a new regulatory body for AI, along with strong support for both regulatory measures like mandatory safety testing and non-regulatory approaches like industry standards and public awareness campaigns. The data demonstrates broad public backing for comprehensive AI governance across multiple policy approaches.

How We Conducted This Survey

We recruited 1,141 Australians through online representative quota sampling stratified by age, sex, and Australian state / territory. We also conducted multilevel regression with poststratification to construct more accurate population estimates based on 2021 Australian Census data.

Contact

Contact Dr Alexander Saeri to discuss the research project and its findings.