Voters Strongly Believe in Public Reporting Requirements and Bias Prevention by AI Companies
On December 3, 2023, Data for Progress, Accountable Tech, and Friends of the Earth conducted a survey of 1,226 likely voters nationally to examine voter attitudes toward public reporting requirements and bias prevention by AI companies around climate disinformation.
We first asked whether voters believe AI companies should or should not be required to publicly report energy use and emissions produced by AI models. Sixty-nine percent of voters think AI companies should be required to publicly report the energy use and emissions produced by AI models. We find consensus across party lines: 79% of Democrats, 67% of Independents, and 60% of Republicans believe AI companies should have such a requirement.
After being told that AI data centers now consume more energy than the commercial airline industry, 76% of voters think AI companies should be required to publicly report the energy use and emissions produced by AI models. We also see an increase in support across party lines: 84% of Democrats, 76% of Independents, and 69% of Republicans believe AI companies should have a reporting requirement after being provided with more information on energy use estimates.
Lastly, 80% of voters overwhelmingly agree that companies should be required to show what steps they take to prevent AI models from producing climate disinformation. This includes strong consensus across partisanship, with 85% of Democrats, 79% of Independents, and 76% of Republicans believing in these types of company requirements.
Survey Methodology
On December 3, 2023, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1,226 U.S. likely voters nationally using web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, geography, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ±3 percentage points.