Artificial intelligence has become inescapable in both our private and public lives. It raises fears, sparks hope, and ignites polarizing debates. But even with all the risks it carries, AI stands as a powerful catalyst for transformation.
Given this context, Roland Berger and Viva Technology sought to answer the question: How deeply will AI transform our daily lives?
This new study is fueled by insights from the community brainstorming event, The Good Hack, which took place at VivaTech in May 2024. The theme: “Navigating AI for a Better Future."
Roland Berger surveyed more than 14,000 VivaTech participants about their opinions on AI, the major challenges ahead, and how AI can be used to solve societal and environmental problems.
Here are five valuable takeaways from the report:
1. High levels of optimism for AI’s potential in health, employment, and the environment, but deep divisions over its influence on democracy.
Roland Berger’s analysis found that AI is already massively used in French society, and the vast majority of people recognize AI's potential to positively impact our world. But few respondents at VivaTech had more than a surface-level understanding of how AI works and the underlying technology that powers it. Still, they were excited about how AI could improve their lives.
- 57% say they use AI technology daily. Only 5% report never using it.
- 92% anticipate positive effects on Health and Wellbeing, 81% on Employment and Inclusion, and 80% on the Environment.
- Perception of AI's influence on citizen trust and democracy is deeply divided: 48% anticipate a “negative” or “very negative” impact, while 50% foresee a “positive” or “very positive” outcome.
2. AI will improve trust in technology, make education more accessible, and increase fairness.
AI is opening the door to a more connected and fairer future by reshaping how we engage with technology and institutions. Here are three of the many ways outlined in the report:
AI tools can help governments create more inclusive and effective policies, thereby strengthening public trust.
AI is making education more accessible by helping students and educators easily access and organize information. “Artificial intelligence allows everyone to access knowledge even more easily, as its capacity for data structuring and retrieval is unprecedented.” - Fabien Versavau, CEO of Rakuten France, at The Good Hack
AI reduces biases in hiring by focusing on skills rather than demographic factors.
3. AI will drive better quality of life
AI is revolutionizing the healthcare sector. Advancements include analyzing DNA for disease diagnosis and making it easier to develop treatments for rare diseases. In fact, “disease detection and diagnosis support” was the #1 response from The Good Hack participants when asked about the positive effects of AI on health and wellbeing (13%).
The report shares many more ways AI is transforming healthcare including powering wearable devices to enable remote patient monitoring and enhancing hospital efficiency.
AI can also improve overall quality of life by playing a key role in climate change solutions, particularly the advancement of decarbonization and accelerating R&D in green technologies.
4. AI also poses risks to humans.
While AI holds the potential for many positive breakthroughs, it also carries considerable risks. We are already seeing the negative effects of AI’s influence in these spheres:
Misinformation and Manipulation: AI increases the spread of misinformation, can generate factually incorrect or fabricated information, and can be manipulated to produce harmful or offensive content.
Environmental Impact: AI models require substantial computing power, leading to increased greenhouse gas emissions. Data centers that support AI computations, also contribute significantly to global electricity demand and carbon emissions. This impact is expected to grow.
Job Automation and Inequality: AI-powered automation poses a risk to many jobs, particularly ones involving repetitive tasks. Women are at a higher risk of job displacement because they work more often in administrative roles. In France alone, 1.4 million jobs could be augmented by AI.
5. More regulations are needed to encourage ethical AI development and protect people.
AI technologies carry significant ethical and privacy challenges, and there is an urgent need for regulations. AI's ability to analyze and cross-reference vast amounts of personal data is already leading to privacy violations, such as TikTok's €76 million settlement over unauthorized AI-driven data collection.
Generative AI has also upended Intellectual Property structures, and the dispute over using copyrighted content to train AI models remains unresolved. Roland Berger’s survey found that “intellectual property” was the #2 response when VivaTech participants were asked about concerns over “AI and Trust.”
Roland Berger’s report also provides many proposed solutions to the potentially negative impacts of AI, including recommendations directly from The Good Hack participants. Check out the full report for more insights.
Be sure to join us at next year’s Good Hack during VivaTech 2025, where we’ll explore a new societal issue in the tech world. The theme will be Tech as a Bridge: Closing the Rural-Urban Gap Together. We look forward to seeing you in June!