New research reveals that Germans are deeply divided into the rise of generative artificial intelligence (genai), such as Chatgupt, and how they perceive how they use it in their daily professional life.
“These divisions are important,” said Professor Florian Stokkell, who led the study. “They impact opportunities, digital inclusion and, ultimately, access to those who shape the future as work and society change through AI.”
When asked whether they view Genai as a threat to their job security, opportunities, or both, the Germans are almost evenly divided. 26% view genai as a threat, 37% view it as both a threat and an opportunity, and 36% view it as an opportunity.
Perceptions of genai effects are far from uniform and vary widely depending on gender, education, occupation, and AI use.
Women are more likely to view genai as a threat to job safety (34%) than men (20%). Education is also important. Only 16% of university graduates view AI as a threat, compared to 31% of people without a degree.
Experts and managers are the least interested. Only 14% view AI as a threat. That figure rises 27% among people in management, sales, or service roles, and 30% among people in manual work. In contrast, experts and managers are the groups most likely to view Genai as a job opportunity.
However, the most important division line is between Genai users and non-users. Only 13% of people using Genai both at work and in their personal lives consider it a threat. Among non-users, that number jumps to 37%.
“You can see that gender, education, occupation, and other things, genai are perceived very differently along the lines of division,” says Stoeckel. “This may not be surprising, but it is important to understand that concerns about AI are not evenly distributed. These divide the risk of deepening existing inequality.”
Professor Stoeckel said: “We recently conducted similar research in the UK and found similar patterns in many ways.” While certain numbers vary between Germany and the UK, researchers find notable similarities about who is concerned and who is using genai. In both countries, supporters of far-right parties are more likely to view Genai as a threat to job security (reforming British voters and German AFD voters). In contrast, conservatives (UK) and CDU/CSU (Germany) voters are more likely to view AI as a job opportunity.
“Participants have yet to take a clear stand in genai, but as technology changes more aspects of experts and private life, parties must do so and take into account the concerns of voters. These concerns differ between supporters of different parties.”
Similarities between the UK and Germany also appear when looking at the use of AI. People under the age of 30 lead adoption in both their personal and workplace. Over half of respondents under the age of 30 use AI in both contexts. Men are more likely to use genai than women, and university graduates use it more than those without a degree. The use is the most extensive among professionals and managers.
Data were collected by YouGov through an online survey of 1,057 German adults. Results were weighted to reflect German population by age, gender, education and region.
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