Indians and global citizens excited and nervous about AI in equal measure – displaying a paradox
The new Ipsos AI Monitor 2025, a 30-country global advisor survey, conducted among 23,000 people has put the focus on trust and transparency as the foundation of the Artificial Intelligence usage, across all markets including India with at least 79% global citizens and 67% Indians expecting products and services using artificial intelligence to disclose its usage; and 65% Indians placing their trust on the government in regulating AI responsibly in the country.
Indians compared to global citizens were seen to trust AI generated content by companies more, as compared to global citizens – in different areas of enhancing product image, writing product descriptions, creating images or videos for advertising and writing product reviews.
The survey also evaluated preference of citizens for AI driven content versus human driven content.
Views of Indians were mostly polarized. In case of news articles or websites, 46% preferred human driven content and 40 per cent ruled in favor of AI; while 70% global citizens felt it was best handled by humans. Photo journalism again showed polarized views 46% for humans and 41% for AI. Advertising, TV ads/ video ads, on social platforms such as YouTube and Tik Tok showed 47% Indians preferring human driven content and 40% preferring AI driven content. Movies for streaming platforms or theatrical release had 48% choosing humans and 38% preferring AI.
The survey also found that AI could take over some of the tasks of humans in the future in India, believe over 6 in 10 Indians – tasks like, screening job applicants (63%), writing scripts for movies/ TV shows (65%), creating realistic sports content like tennis matches between AI generated players (62%), creating political ads with realistic generated videos (65%), assisting with order taking at restaurants (63%), writing news articles/ stories for publications (63%), creating content for brand advertising (64%), online search results (66%), targeting disinformation campaigns (62%), targeting advertising messages (63%). Which is a telling sign of the things to come.
“There is concern around trust and transparency and citizens expect companies to be transparent about their AI usage and the government to responsibly protect citizens’ interests with regulations around AI. AI could snap up jobs in the areas of content, creative and servicing jobs in the future and could impact thousands of jobs in the future. The survey provides an early warning on what the future could unfold and AI emerging as a great disruptor. Citizens could reprioritize their courses/ skills to brace for the future,” stated Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India.
Surprisingly, Indians were seen to be excited (65%) and nervous (66%) about AI, at the same time, and the paradox was termed the wonder and worry of AI, in the context. Even global citizens displayed equal split for excitement (52%) and nervousness (53%).
Indians put both AI (67%) and humans (66%) on even keel when it came to not showing discrimination or bias towards any group of people, while global citizens put AI (54%) ahead of humans (45%) in not discriminating or showing bias.
Interestingly, Indians were also seen to perceive AI in positive light and felt it could have a positive impact on a slew of areas in the next 3-5 years. Especially in their job (55%), economy (49%), entertainment options (50%), the amount of time taken to get things done (51%) and in their health (50%). However, the amount of disinformation on the planet could see an upsurge felt at least 1 in 2 Indians (49%).
“Artificial Intelligence + Human Intelligence while will be the future, but strict regulations from the government will need to be the order of the day. At the same time, augmenting AI usage and being AI savvy in one’s area of work will bring in the efficiencies and an AI ready workforce, if one is not to be left out. We are already seeing AI simplifying mundane and time-consuming tasks,” added Adarkar.
Technical Note
These are the results of a 30-country survey conducted by Ipsos on its Global Advisor online platform and, in India, on its IndiaBus platform, between Friday, March 21, and Friday, April 4, 2025. For this survey, Ipsos interviewed a total of 23,216 adults aged 18 years and older in India, 18-74 in Canada, Republic of Ireland, Malaysia, South Africa, Türkiye, and the United States, 20-74 in Thailand, 21-74 in Indonesia and Singapore, and 16-74 in all other countries.
The sample consists of approximately 2,000 individuals in Japan, 1,000 individuals each in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, and the U.S., and 500 individuals each in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, and Türkiye. The sample in India consists of approximately 2,200 individuals, of whom approximately 1,800 were interviewed face-to-face and 400 were interviewed online.
Samples in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.S. can be considered representative of their general adult populations under the age of 75. Samples in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, and Türkiye are more urban, more educated, and/or more affluent than the general population. The survey results for these countries should be viewed as reflecting the views of the more “connected” segment of their population.
India’s sample represents a large subset of its urban population — social economic classes A, B and C in metros and tier 1-3 town classes across all four zones.
The data is weighted so that the composition of each country’s sample best reflects the demographic profile of the adult population according to the most recent census data.
“The 30-country average” reflects the average result for all the countries and markets in which the survey was conducted. It has not been adjusted to the population size of each country or market and is not intended to suggest a total result.
When percentages do not sum up to 100 or the ‘difference’ appears to be +/-1 percentage point more/less than the actual result, this may be due to rounding, multiple responses, or the exclusion of “don’t know” or not stated responses.
The precision of Ipsos online polls is calculated using a credibility interval with a poll where N=1,000 being accurate to +/- 3.5 percentage points and of where N=500 being accurate to +/- 5.0 percentage points.The publication of these findings abides by local rules and regulations.