Brits have 'more trust' in AI than in Government - or even those nearest to them

Brits trust AI more than the government, social media influencers - and friends and family, according to a report. A study of 5,020 adults found 44% believe AI will provide them with the 'correct facts', compared to 38% who trust in the government. As 57% believe most public figures intentionally mislead people by only reporting facts suitable to their agenda.

A fifth believe AI is more trustworthy than their own friends and family, with seven in ten of AI users are confident in the accuracy of the answers they are provided with. Meanwhile a quarter believe the facts they read on social channels.

Harry Gove, spokesperson for OnePoll.com, which compiled the reportfor 72Point.com, commented: "What's particularly revealing with this research is the growing perception that AI may deliver more reliable information than even close personal networks - friends and family included.

"The abundance of accessible, multi-sourced information is reshaping how trust is formed and where authority is placed.

"Society is not only embracing AI, but doing so rapidly, with trust in its outputs growing in parallel with its integration into everyday life."

Of those adults who have used AI (70%), 59% are most likely to rely on it to get answers to questions, while 42% use it to learn, or to have new things explained.

More than a third (34%) will turn to AI for writing help for things like emails, documents or captions and 33% use it in a professional capacity. Reassuringly, 59% of all adults claim to have a good understanding of AI tools, chat bots and large language models.

On the whole, younger adults are more likely to trust what they are told, and what they read, than any older generations.

Similarly, 49% of younger people aged 18 to 24 will trust what they are told by business leaders compared to 39% of all those polled aged 55 and over.

While 25 to 34 year olds are the biggest adopters of AI, with 66% placing their trust in the information shared by the likes of ChatGPT, Copilot or Google Gemini.

However across all age groups, 55% of Brits say it is getting harder to know which sources of information to trust