Robots vs. AI – How Attitudes, Familiarity, Anthropomorphism, Knowledge, and Risk-Opportunity Perception Influence Users’ Preference for Robots and Artificial Intelligence

In recent years the fast development of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic technology has led to tremendous growth in various industries, especially in the medical and transportation sectors. While AI and (humanoid) robots are often viewed as promising technology for the future, there is also an increase in concern about the negative impact of those developments on society. Even though AI and robots could be used interchangeably in many application areas, they fundamentally differ in that robots have a physical presence as opposed to AI being more abstract algorithms running in thebackground of an application. That poses the question of whether people differ in their preferences regarding robots or AI and what cognitive factors influence people’s preferences. Our study investigated the preference for robots or AI in 15 different interaction contexts for a sample of N = 526 of the German population (representative for age and gender). To identify the most important factors influencing participants’ preferences for robots or AI, attitudes, perceived anthropomorphism, knowledge, familiarity, and risk-opportunity perception were measured. Results show that attitudes and risk-opportunity perception are the most important predictors for participants’ preferences. Furthermore, differences in perception of robots and AI are discussed.