Abstract: Resistance to artificial intelligence (AI) is widespread and persists even when known psychological barriers are removed. What explains this persistent aversion? Across four studies, we investigate whether moral reactions to AI—rooted in deeply held beliefs about right and wrong—help explain resistance beyond pragmatic concerns. In Study 1, we analyzed all news headlines in a major US media corpus (COCA, 2018–2024) and found that AI is moralized at levels comparable to GMOs and vaccines—technologies whose moral opposition has received considerable attention—and that surges in moralization followed the launch of major AI applications such as ChatGPT and DALL-E. In Studies 2a, 2b, and 3, representative samples of Americans reported their attitudes toward several AI applications and other technologies. Although few participants opposed AI outright, most opponents indicated their views would remain unchanged even if AI proved beneficial—suggesting moral rather than pragmatic roots. Structural equation models revealed that moralization of AI was best captured by a single latent factor, indicating a generalized moral sentiment rather than domain-specific risk–benefit appraisals. Qualitative analyses further uncovered the most common justifications people invoke and how opponents and supporters differ in their reasoning. In Study 4, participants from Studies 2b and 3 completed a subsequent behavioral grading task; moralization scores measured in the earlier surveys predicted greater reluctance to use AI even when doing so would benefit participants (a one standard deviation increase in moralization corresponded to 42% decrease in AI usage). Together, these findings demonstrate that resistance to AI is partly moral in nature, suggesting that reaping the potential benefits of AI tools may require addressing moral concerns rather than relying solely on pragmatic arguments.

I wonder how much X has contributed to the rise of One Nation. I know relatively few people use it compared to Facebook and Instagram, but still...

The organisation may be enabling the Greens Party they profess to oppose.

Washington (AFP) – Climate change deniers are pushing an AI-generated paper questioning human-induced warming, leading experts

Interesting discussion about using AI in science generally and Google AI co-scientist in particular.

I'm thinking about switching to a Firefox fork as a web browser. Apart from Tor, they're all on AUR. I can't use Tor all the time.

Do you consider that a security risk that's worth worrying about? E.g. you could get a dodgy maintainer putting malware in it, as least theoretically.

My local library has two books on how to use google+. Should I mention to them that they’re obsolete? I suppose they’ll get chucked out eventually anyway…

I went for a walk and found a vape on the ground. It had a symbol of a cross through a bin so I thought I should be a good citizen and dispose of this thing properly. I searched the internet and found an article that said to disassemble it, carefully cut the wires to the battery, put the liquid receptacle in the bin and drop the battery off at the local Officeworks for recycling. 🙄 The thing was solid, it had no screws and seemed to be impossible to open. At least you can put cigarette butts in the bin..

Catchy 80s indie pop band from Sydney. The trumpet player Stephen went on to play in the Cannanes.