Negative Attitude Towards AI and Its Relationship with the Cultural Dimension of Power Distance

Abstract: Earlier studies have focused on the relationship between negative attitudes towards AI and collective culture of the country (country of origin). These differences may be because of sizeable differences in the power distance index (PDI) on the population level between different countries. We investigated the relationship between power distance index (PDI) of individuals; and their attitudes towards AI through a survey of participants from two countries, India and Sweden, where there are large differences in PDI on the population level. Results of the correlation test showed that power distance correlates positively with negative attitudes towards interactions with AI and the social influence of AI i.e. higher PDI means more of a negative attitude towards AI. However, power distance correlates positively to the acceptance of AI in a workplace environment, i.e. higher PDI means higher acceptance of AI in the workplace. The latter result was contradictory to our expectations and contradicted an earlier study [8], wherein high PDI showed hindrance in acceptance of the technology at workplace.