The most interesting conclusion of the study is that, despite the active media coverage of potential threats from AI, our compatriots are not only gradually ceasing to fear artificial intelligence and its penetration into everyday life, but also, at the level of terminology, are actually beginning to identify AI with information technologies (17.3% use AI on a regular basis, and another 39.2% are familiar with the technology).
According to the study, there is a "routinization" of AI: it is transforming from a "threat" into a "normal tool." The practical use of AI is growing: over the year, the share of users has increased from 27% to 39%, and those who do it on a regular basis have increased by 2.25 times. However, Russians are increasingly believing that AI is poor at creativity and idea generation.
I would like to separately note the pragmatic view of the penetration of AI into the labor market, which distinguishes most Russians. A discrepancy is recorded here between the tone of coverage of the issue in the media space and the real concerns of the population. Thus, in the group of concerns according to the survey results, employment issues close the top of the worrying issues, while in the media stage, high rates were recorded: more than half of the publications in the media space (50.5%) contain a group of concerns that can be conditionally called "technology versus human employment."
43.1% of Russians are worried about the disappearance of professions. But they also perceive this as a natural process of technological evolution, and not as a threat to themselves personally. Moreover, both the level of concern and the likelihood of specific professions being replaced by technologies at a personal level are rather decreasing. Only 30% of Russians believe that modern technological advances will be able to completely replace them or their loved ones in the workplace (the figure has decreased compared to last year).
And here a paradox is noticeable: more than half of those who believe in the disappearance of professions are ready to take measures, but do not know exactly which ones. 37.7% declare their willingness to develop their skills, but only 18.7% are ready to learn a new profession. the most technologically savvy Russians (the "techno-pros" segment in our study). Concerns are recorded, rather, in the segment of everyday users.
In general, most Russians still belong to the conditional "techno-optimists" - they assess the impact of information technologies rather positively. 61.5% of respondents believe that IT solutions are beneficial, the proportion of those who are not concerned about the implementation reached 42.6% (increased by 3.1 percentage points). It is important that no negative emotions are recorded in any of the perception ranges.
Interestingly, that in such conditions, Russians demonstrate a certain inconsistency, reducing personal digital protection measures. People have become less likely to check the security of websites, clear their browser history, and refuse biometrics. The proportion of respondents who use spare cards for payment has significantly decreased (from 25.1% to 18.2%), read confidentiality agreements (from 28.5% to 22.4%), and configure privacy settings on social networks (from 26.5% to 20.5%). Only the refusal to use services that require personal data shows a slight increase (from 25.5 to 28%). It is difficult to determine whether such indicators are a trend yet (additional observation is necessary), but it is already obvious that there is a discrepancy in declared and real behavior.
According to experts, citizens have begun to rely more on the state and large IT companies. There is a telling phenomenon of delegation of responsibility: people are aware of cyber risks, but reduce their personal activity in protection. This suggests that citizens are satisfied with the level of system protection and believe that existing technical solutions and regulatory mechanisms are able to provide a basic level of security.
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The study "Information Technology in the Perception of Russians" included an analysis of the media space (1.1 million messages from 460 thousand authors with a total audience of over 15 billion people), as well as a representative survey of 2,500 respondents aged 18-65 years and a comparative analysis with data from 2024. A high degree of continuity was ensured by the participation of 81.2% of respondents from the previous wave.
Tatyana Sokolova,
Candidate of Political Sciences,
Associate Professor at the School of Communications, Higher School of Economics,
one of the authors of the study