How much trust do Austrians have in universities, artificial intelligence and experts from the field?
In August 2023 303 Austrians were surveyed on behalf of the “Im-Fokus” report for m.core/WU Vienna. This time, the survey focused on trust in various sources of information on the topics of medicine and health, the environment and sustainability, and the economy.
Respondents were asked to indicate on a scale of 0-100 (0 = no trust, 100 = full trust) how much they trust universities, artificial intelligence, experts from the field, and their own gut feelings about different topics.
This showed that it is relatively independent of the topic how trustworthy an information source is assessed. Artificial intelligence is trusted least. Distrust of AI increases with age for all topics (r =- .14 – -.16, p’s < .01).
Also interesting: across all subjects, men trust universities significantly more than women (70 vs. 64), (T(338)=2.51, p < .05).
Do we need universities?
Participants were also asked whether they thought universities were needed. With 92%, the majority is in favor of universities, 45.6% also believe that the role of universities will increase in the future and 53.2% trust that science will find solutions to problems that affect them.
The survey was answered by 340 participants (49.7% female, 50.3% male), with an average age of 42.06 years (standard deviation 13.36).
Find the full study in German here!
published: 21.09.2023
