According to a 2023 survey, most Americans worry that machines will become too intelligent and that the boundary between people and machines will disappear—whether through cyborgs, AI systems that enhance human abilities or even superintelligent machine minds. Roughly 60–70 percent of respondents supported, or would have supported, a global pause on development, especially around human–robot hybridisation and AI chips implanted in the brain. They would also primarily ban the development of general AI “smarter than us”, while nearly two-thirds called for government regulation to slow the field down.
Interestingly, giving robots consciousness—creating genuinely sentient, self-aware AI—caused less unequivocal panic. Around 50–60 percent would have supported banning it. People seem to treat a mentally enhanced algorithm as a theoretical nightmare, while a hybrid human–machine form feels much closer to science-fiction horror.
The political consequences are significant too: more than 70 percent said this fear should lead to action, with serious limits and moratoria from policymakers. Whether that becomes an AI-rights framework or a global treaty, the message from the survey is clear: slow down robotics and AI before the Terminator arrives with the whipped cream.
