Calls for Stronger Control, Not a Halt to Development, Despite Rising AI Fears

According to AI TIMES, 68.4% of respondents said AI is likely to threaten humanity's survival, and in a survey released on September 29, the most common answer, at 63.9%, was that development speed should be maintained while safety regulations are strengthened. Even among groups that saw AI risks as serious, strengthening safeguards rather than slowing development was the more popular choice. In the midst of recent debate over AI controllability and development speed, public opinion appears to be leaning toward establishing a manageable framework first rather than stopping technological progress. In particular, even when groups were split in their agreement with specific claims, the common preference was to maintain speed and reinforce safety responses. As the most needed countermeasures, mechanisms that guarantee human final control and preemptive safety verification ranked near the top, showing that the focus of the debate is shifting from speed adjustment to the design of control systems.