Public images of artificial intelligence: an overview

Artificial intelligence (AI) is not only a ubiquitous topic in scholarly debates but in recent years has also received increased media and political attention. Discussions, initially strongly influenced by autonomous vehicles but currently dominated by expectations concerning generative AI such as ChatGPT, have contributed to public awareness. There are debate cycles, often characterized by a significant decline in public attention after a certain period of time, and the issue to a large extent or completely disappears from mass media’s agenda; also, they are often specific to certain countries. In this paper, a cursory cross-country overview concerning studies on media representations and the public perception of AI is provided. The use of AI in healthcare will be particularly highlighted, as there are currently high expectations regarding the benefits of AI, but other areas of application will also be considered. It will be tentatively concluded that in many countries, public perception of and public attitudes toward AI often is based on superficial knowledge and even prejudices.