Public sentiments on the fourth industrial revolution: An unsolicited public opinion poll from Twitter

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Abbonato, Diletta
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Abbonato, Diletta
author_facet Abbonato, Diletta
contents This paper establishes an empirical baseline of public sentiment toward Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies across six European countries during the period 2006--2019, prior to the widespread adoption of generative AI systems. Employing transformer-based natural language processing models on a corpus of approximately 90,000 tweets and news articles, I document a European public sphere increasingly divided in its assessment of technological change: neutral sentiment declined markedly over the study period as citizens sorted into camps of enthusiasm and concern, a pattern that manifests distinctively across national contexts and technology domains. Approximately 6\% of users inhabit echo chambers characterized by sentiment-aligned networks, with privacy discourse exhibiting the highest susceptibility to such dynamics. These findings provide a methodologically rigorous reference point for evaluating how the introduction of ChatGPT and subsequent generative AI systems has transformed public discourse on automation, employment, and technological change. The results carry implications for policymakers seeking to align technological governance with societal values in an era of rapid AI advancement.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_14230
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Public sentiments on the fourth industrial revolution: An unsolicited public opinion poll from Twitter
Abbonato, Diletta
General Economics
Economics
Computers and Society
Social and Information Networks
This paper establishes an empirical baseline of public sentiment toward Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies across six European countries during the period 2006--2019, prior to the widespread adoption of generative AI systems. Employing transformer-based natural language processing models on a corpus of approximately 90,000 tweets and news articles, I document a European public sphere increasingly divided in its assessment of technological change: neutral sentiment declined markedly over the study period as citizens sorted into camps of enthusiasm and concern, a pattern that manifests distinctively across national contexts and technology domains. Approximately 6\% of users inhabit echo chambers characterized by sentiment-aligned networks, with privacy discourse exhibiting the highest susceptibility to such dynamics. These findings provide a methodologically rigorous reference point for evaluating how the introduction of ChatGPT and subsequent generative AI systems has transformed public discourse on automation, employment, and technological change. The results carry implications for policymakers seeking to align technological governance with societal values in an era of rapid AI advancement.
title Public sentiments on the fourth industrial revolution: An unsolicited public opinion poll from Twitter
topic General Economics
Economics
Computers and Society
Social and Information Networks
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.14230