Three in five (61 per cent) of Brits have concerns about artificial intelligence (AI) systems being able to function without human assistance, according to new research.

Fountech.ai commissioned Opinium to survey 2,000 UK adults about their views on the future impact of AI on society, finding that 44 per cent still do not properly understand how it works.

More than half of all respondents believe that AI is fundamentally flawed because it cannot apply the same emotional intelligence or intuition as humans when making decisions.

A majority (69 per cent) of people believe a human should always be monitoring and checking decisions made by AI to account for issues such as bias, with 77 per cent of those aged over 55 most likely to hold this view.

Nikolas Kairinos, founder of Fountech.ai, said: “There is still a significant knowledge gap when it comes to people’s general awareness and understanding of artificial intelligence.”

As a result, he explained that many people are naturally apprehensive about giving up certain decision-making powers to machines.

“There is a certain level of unproven mistrust towards AI, and one can argue this is a result of how it is typically portrayed in films and books,” he added. “Humans have a tendency to fear things they don’t understand, and our research demonstrates this point.”

Kairinos concluded: “The reality is that AI has already become engrained into our daily lives – many people are relying on and actively using AI without actually realising it."

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