In short
Five questions that give two scores: how far a person accepts AI, and how far they fear it. Use it when you want hope and worry kept apart in a very short survey.
For whoever runs the assessment: an HR or operations lead, an internal project team, or an outside consultant.
What it measures
Two things, each with its own score:
- Acceptance: does the person expect AI to be good for people?
- Fear: does the person feel threatened by it?
Keeping the two apart matters. Someone can expect benefits and feel afraid at once.
How to use it
- Add it to an anonymous staff survey before a rollout.
- Report the two scores side by side for each team. Do not merge them.
- Where fear is high, find out what the fear is about before you train or persuade. See protect psychological safety during an AI rollout.
What it does not measure
- AI at work. The questions are about AI in society, not about a workplace tool.
- Trust in a specific system.
How it was tested
The authors gave the five questions to 461 people in Germany, 413 in China and 84 in the United Kingdom. In each sample the questions split into the same two parts.
Licence and access
The article is open access under CC BY 4.0 and gives the questions in three languages. You may translate them into another language with credit.
Alternatives
Other assessments with a similar job, and when to prefer each.
- How positive are staff about AI in general? AI Attitude Scale (AIAS-4) Prefer it when one overall score in four questions is enough. It has been tested more. Staff, each about their own views · 4 questions Free to use and adapt
- What positive and negative views of AI do staff hold? General Attitudes towards Artificial Intelligence Scale (GAAIS) Prefer it when you want a longer, better-tested measure of positive and negative views. Staff, each about their own views · 20 questions, or 10 in the short form Free to use, ask before changing
Practices that use it
The details
- Testing
- Tested in one study on three samples, in Germany, China and the United Kingdom. A similar two-part structure appeared in all three. The UK sample was small.
- Looks at
- Person
- How the answers are collected
- A survey answered by each person about their own views.
- Length
- 5 questions
- Cost
- Free
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0You may translate and adapt the questions if you credit the authors.
- Languages
- German, Chinese, English
- By
- Sindermann and colleagues, 2020
Sources
- Sindermann, Sha, Zhou, Wernicke, Schmitt and colleagues (2020). Assessing the Attitude Towards Artificial Intelligence: Introduction of a Short Measure in German, Chinese, and English Language. KI – Künstliche Intelligenz. doi:10.1007/s13218-020-00689-0
Related studies on this site
- The same AI pressure can raise or lower willingness to use AI Chang, Zhang, Cai and Guo (2024). Does AI-Driven Technostress Promote or Hinder Employees’ Artificial Intelligence Adoption Intention? A Moderated Mediation Model of Affective Reactions and Technical Self-Efficacy. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 17, 413–427.
- Ready for change, resistant, or both? Repovš, Drnovšek and Kaše (2019). Change Ready, Resistant, or Both? Exploring the Concepts of Individual Change Readiness and Resistance to Organizational Change. Economic and Business Review, 21(2).