In the 2025 Trust Survey, new questions were introduced which asked respondents about their familiarity with the term artificial intelligence (AI) and their confidence that government would achieve certain outcomes with the assistance of AI in the future. Respondents were asked to rate their confidence levels on a scale from ‘0 - Not at all confident' to '10 – Completely confident’. In line with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) recommended groupings, responses were grouped as ‘Not confident (0-4)’, ‘Neutral (5)’, or ‘Confident (6-10)’.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to computer systems that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as understanding language, learning from data, or making decisions. You may be familiar with AI in everyday tools like smart assistants or personalized online recommendations.
Statistics on AI and government agency use are available by gender, age group, level of education attained, employment status, voting status, and NUTS 2 region. Please see Data chapter.
Respondents were first asked to rate their familiarity with the term Artificial Intelligence (AI). Over half (56.2%) of respondents reported that they understand it well and could explain it to others, while a further four in ten (41.9%) have a general idea of what it means but might struggle to explain it. Only 1.7% of respondents were not familiar with the term.
A difference was seen between men and women, with almost two thirds (63.7%) of men and half (49.1%) of women reporting that they understand the term well and could explain it to others. A further third (33.9%) of men and half (49.6%) of women reported that they have a general idea of what AI means but might struggle to explain it.
Younger respondents were more likely to be familiar with the term AI than older respondents. All respondents aged 18-29 years were familiar with the term, with eight out ten (81.7%) understanding AI well and could explain it to others. This compares to only 37.8% of those aged 50 years and over who understand AI well and could explain it to others.
Respondents were asked about their level of confidence in government agencies in achieving certain outcomes, aided by AI use in the future. The outcomes were:
Respondents were asked about their level of confidence in government agencies in achieving certain outcomes, aided by AI use in the future. Half of respondents (49.8%) were not confident in the use of AI to reduce costs, while 36.2% were confident. Half of respondents (49.9%) were not confident in the government’s future use of AI in providing services that are better tailored to individual needs, while 33.0% were confident. More than seven in ten (72.0%) respondents were not confident and 15.0% were confident with government agencies future use of AI and their ability to protect individuals’ personal information from unauthorised access or misuse.
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