Artificial intelligence for government use : a quantitative study of the EU citizens’ perspective

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) is used more in the public sector, the topic becomes increasingly interesting for public administration research. However, what citizens think of AI implementation in the public sphere is largely unknown. This research aims to discover to what extend citizens support the use of AI in public policy areas as well as what influences their support. To answer the question, a quantitative analysis is conducted using data from the Eurobarometer 92.3 from 2019. National differences are investigated because AI governance is in the domain of EU member states. Additionally, drawing from previous research on e-government transformation, this research tests whether trust in government is an influential predictor for citizens to support AI use in public policy areas. The analysis from the data shows that EU citizens generally show support for AI use in this context. However, whether a member state addresses the issue of AI use in a national strategy does not contribute to citizen support. Though, if a person trusts the government a positive relation towards support for AI was found.