Abstract
The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), of which the NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute is a member, conducted a survey on “Digital Societies.” This paper reports the results of the survey in Japan, covering internet use, responses to misinformation, and expectations and anxieties regarding digitalization and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
While as many as 80% of the respondents use the internet, 15% do not use it at all. Among the non-users, more than 40% responded that there is no one they can rely on when they need to use the internet. This reveals the existence of people who are left behind the wave of digitalization.
While only 30% overall think political news on social media is “reliable,” the figure reaches approximately 50% among those in their 30s and under. Amidst a flood of dubious information, when asked whether they had ever experienced seeing certain information online and believing it at first but later realizing that it had been misinformation, nearly half answered “yes.” The younger the respondents, the more likely they were to answer “yes,” with nearly 80% among those in their 20s and under.
With AI-powered robots and generative AI rapidly permeating people’s daily lives, nearly 60% answered that “AI has many benefits for human life.” Furthermore, for the multiple-choice question to select the areas they expect AI to be useful, “disaster prevention” was most cited (nearly 60%), followed by “nursing care” and “healthcare” (around half, respectively). Meanwhile, regarding machines and AI taking over jobs done by humans, nearly half of the respondents stated they are “worried,” and those feeling “uncomfortable” about not being able to check the accuracy of AI-generated information reached 70%. These results suggest people’s complex feelings towards AI.
