A recent survey has shown that on a scale of 1 to 10, Germans rate their AI knowledge at 5.5. This is the result of a survey of more than 2,000 citizens commissioned by the software company One Data, for which an AI competence score was determined. Men from generations Y and Z scored particularly highly, while women from the baby boomer cohorts scored particularly low. 36 percent of all respondents would like to further their education in AI. Among the participants who already consider themselves competent, this value rises to 58 percent.
The assessment of all respondents can be divided into three thirds: 33 percent each rate themselves as rather good (score 7 - 10), average (score 5 - 6) and rather poor (score 1 - 4). If one looks at these values separately by gender, however, it becomes apparent: men generally rate their AI competence better: 41 percent say rather good (score 7 - 10), while only 26 percent of women make this statement. This differentiation is not only seen in the overall average, but also in each generation group.
Although 70 percent think that AI will shape our future, overall only 36 percent of the survey participants want to educate themselves further on the topic of artificial intelligence. This figure is already significantly higher among the younger generations: 47 percent of Millennials want to deepen their AI knowledge, in Gen Z even 50 percent.
This proportion is also higher overall and across all generations among men, where 42 percent intend to continue their education, compared to only 30 percent of women. An even greater gap becomes visible if one looks separately at the group that rates their AI skills as rather good: Of this third of respondents, 58 percent plan to continue their education. In contrast, only 16 percent of the third who consider themselves rather poor.
One in four believes in AI revolution
Artificial intelligence is a topic that will be relevant in the long term, the vast majority of Germans agree: 95 percent of those surveyed do not believe that artificial intelligence is just hype. 43 percent are of the opinion that some things will change. 27 percent see AI as a revolution that will fundamentally change the world. 13 percent assume that AI is a trend topic that will be with us for a while without changing the world. Only five percent of all survey participants expect AI to be just a hype that will disappear again. Surprisingly, younger people are more likely to believe in hype: nine percent of Generation Z are of this opinion, but only three percent of the baby boomer generation.
Artificial intelligence also seems to be already widespread in practice: Only 16 percent answer that they never come into contact with the technology. 38 percent of all respondents even state that they encounter AI in everyday life at least once a week. However, there is also scepticism and reservations about AI. For example, only 30 percent of respondents say they trust artificial intelligence to provide reliable answers and use data correctly. 40 percent are convinced that an AI can lie. The so-called AI bias is also present in the German population: the majority of 62 percent believe that the linguistic and cultural background of developers has an influence on artificial intelligence.
“The present study comes to very differentiated results. On the one hand, the vast majority of Germans are certain that AI will accompany us in the future and very many people are aware that they already come into frequent contact with the technology in everyday life. On the other hand, we see a large gap, both in the existing knowledge about AI and in the willingness to educate themselves in this area”, says Dr Andreas Böhm, CEO and founder of One Data GmbH.
