Despite pronouncements about the inevitable diffusion of artificial intelligence and autonomous technologies, in practice it is human behavior, not technology in a vacuum, that dictates how technology seeps into -- and changes -- societies. In order to better understand how human preferences shape technological adoption and the spread of AI-enabled autonomous technologies, we look at representative adult samples of US public opinion in 2018 and 2020 on the use of four types of autonomous technologies: vehicles, surgery, weapons, and cyber defense. By focusing on these four diverse uses of AI-enabled autonomy that span transportation, medicine, and national security, we exploit the inherent variation between these AI-enabled autonomous use cases. We find that those with familiarity and expertise with AI and similar technologies were more likely to support all of the autonomous applications we tested (except weapons) than those with a limited understanding of the technology. Individuals that had already delegated the act of driving by using ride-share apps were also more positive about autonomous vehicles. However, familiarity cut both ways; individuals are also less likely to support AI-enabled technologies when applied directly to their life, especially if technology automates tasks they are already familiar with operating. Finally, opposition to AI-enabled military applications has slightly increased over time.

翻译：尽管关于人工智能和自主技术必将扩散的声明不绝于耳，但在实践中，决定技术如何渗透并改变社会的，并非真空中的技术，而是人类行为。为了更好地理解人类偏好如何塑造技术采纳以及人工智能驱动的自主技术的传播，我们审视了2018年和2020年美国成年公众对四种自主技术（车辆、手术、武器和网络防御）使用的代表性样本意见。通过聚焦这四种跨越交通、医疗和国家安全领域的人工智能驱动的自主性应用，我们利用了这些自主性用例之间的内在差异。研究发现，与对技术理解有限的人相比，那些熟悉并具备人工智能及类似技术专业知识的人，更可能支持我们测试的所有自主应用（武器除外）。已经通过使用拼车应用将驾驶行为委托出去的个体，对自动驾驶汽车也持更积极态度。然而，熟悉是一把双刃剑；当人工智能技术直接应用于个体生活时，尤其是当技术自动化了他们已熟悉的操作任务时，个体不太可能支持这些技术。最后，随着时间推移，对人工智能驱动军事应用的反对意见略有增加。