How do people’s attitudes towards AI in different national contexts affect the development of AI in the automobile industry? : A cross-country study of Germany and China

AI has become a ubiquitous part of daily life for many people around the world. Companies have more possibilities to use AI to optimize some repetitive or dangerous procedures which are formerly performed by humans while people have common fear about AI because of the loss of employment opportunities and privacy. Meanwhile, AI has also become a cross-cultural phenomenon. It is believed that perceptions may vary between individuals and cultures, and the vision of the future of AI may also differ in emerging and advanced economies. Therefore, it is important to investigate individual or organizational differences in attitudes toward and trust in AI based on the cultural differences, understanding the relationship between culture and the use of AI. This study conducts qualitative cross-country research between Germany and China, narrowing down the focus to analyze people’s attitudes toward AI in the automobile industry. It is critical to analyze how, why, and to what extent each dimension of cultural differences influence the use of AI. A thematic analysis has been conducted to analyze the collected data. This research aims at figuring out the potentially replicable, cross-culturally applicable factors which influence the attitudes towards AI, along with generalizable associations valid across different cultures.