Abstract
A major challenge with the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications is to manage the long-term societal impacts of this technology. Two central concerns that have emerged in this respect are that the optimized goals behind the data processing of AI applications usually remain opaque and the energy footprint of their data processing is growing quickly. This study thus explores how much people value the transparency and environmental sustainability of AI using the example of personal AI assistants. The results from a choice-based conjoint analysis with a sample of more than 1.000 respondents from Germany indicate that people hardly care about the energy efficiency of AI; and while they do value transparency through explainable AI, this added value of an application is offset by minor costs. The findings shed light on what kinds of AI people are likely to demand and have important implications for policy and regulation.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Big Data & Society |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2022 |
Funding
We thank the three anonymous reviewers and the editors of Big Data & Society for their valuable comments and suggestions. We extend our gratitude to the students who participated in the pretest of the survey. Last but not least, we also thank Lea Buchholz and Leonardo Giannotti for their feedback and proof reading at various stages. The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.