In our research, we work to understand how people feel about the expansion of robots in different employment areas, and what factors influence their feelings. Mainly we aim to discover what factors influence people‟s opinions on robots. The widely publicized views about robotics and artificial intelligence come to opposite conclusions. One being the idea that increased development of artificial intelligence and robots may lead to a situation of mass unemployment. The other more optimistic one being that the fear of job loss is unwarranted because a displacement and reposition of employment is what will ensue. There are also more contemporary views such as the following, to accelerate the development of robots and AI while maintaining employment opportunities at the same time, it is necessary to upgrade human capital. The results of our research show that males have a more positive view about robots than females. People who found out about robots via scientific readings are also more likely to have a positive opinion about them than those who found out about robots via media. Furthermore, people who were personally exposed to robots or who had heard about them from friends are less likely to have a negative opinion about them than those who found out the information via scientific readings. The results also show that the more interested a person is in science and technology, the more likely he or she will have a positive view of robots. We did not discover significant correlation between peoples‟ view about robots and their country of origin, also their age was not a significant determinate. We included further descriptive questions in our study pertaining to where respondents believe robots should be used as well as where robots should not be used. The majority of responses were in the fields of manufacturing and education. From this we draw that as of now, most people cannot accept the use of robots within social interaction due to either personal fears or lack of trust.

1. Robots: a threat or an opportunity?
Determinants of public opinion.
Master 2 Development Economics and International Project Management
University Paris-Est Créteil
Guillaume Courchinoux, Lucien Douyon, Olha Pererva,
AnastasiaRomanschii, NiroshaElsemVarghese
March 4, 2017

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OUTLINE
Executivesummary…………………………………………………………………………....3
I. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………....4
II. Literature
Review……………………………………………………………………...................5
III. Method of data collection and data description………………………………………7
IV. Methodology…………………………………………………………………………..9
V. Descriptive statistics………………………………………………………………….10
VI. Resultsandanalysis…………………………………………………………………..14
VII. Conclusions………………………………………….…………………………….....16
BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………....17
Annexes……………………………………………………………………………………....18

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Executive summary
In our research, we work to understand how people feel about the expansion of robots in
different employment areas, and what factors influence their feelings. Mainly we aim to
discover what factors influence people‟s opinions on robots.
The widely publicized views about robotics and artificial intelligence come to opposite
conclusions. One being the idea that increased development of artificial intelligence and
robots may lead to a situation of mass unemployment. The other more optimistic one being
that the fear of job loss is unwarranted because a displacement and reposition of employment
is what will ensue. There are also more contemporary views such as the following, to
accelerate the development of robots and AI while maintaining employment opportunities at
the same time, it is necessary to upgrade human capital.
The results of our research show that males have a more positive view about robots than
females. People who found out about robots via scientific readings are also more likely to
have a positive opinion about them than those who found out about robots via media.
Furthermore, people who were personally exposed to robots or who had heard about them
from friends are less likely to have a negative opinion about them than those who found out
the information via scientific readings. The results also show that the more interested a
person is in science and technology, the more likely he or she will have a positive view of
robots.
We did not discover significant correlation between peoples‟ view about robots and their
country of origin, also their age was not a significant determinate. We included further
descriptive questions in our study pertaining to where respondents believe robots should be
used as well as where robots should not be used. The majority of responses were in the fields
of manufacturing and education. From this we draw that as of now, most people cannot
accept the use of robots within social interaction due to either personal fears or lack of trust.

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I. Introduction
Robots are programmable mechanical devices that can perform complicated tasks
automatically. They have become an important part of the manufacturing industry, a
seemingly ever-growing field. However, the next significant leap for robotics is into the
homes and public spaces of individual consumers. Therefore, interaction between humans
and robots will be more prevalent as time progresses. The field of personal and public robots
is quickly increasing and is likely to continue growing in the future. Scientists agree that
robots will soon become commonplace. Self-driving UBER taxis as well as self-driving semi-
trailer trucks are already in operation and a robot called Watson is already working alongside
physicians to diagnose and provide treatment options for lung cancer patients. However,
neither public acceptance of these devices or explanation for what leads to acceptance has
been determined.
Motivation
With interest in technological innovation growing and with scientific and technological
advancements coming out every year, we believe it is important to understand how people
see the future with the robots. Personal attitudes are the ground for either acceptance and
support, or resistance, to robots. Therefore, they constitute a significant factor which can
either boost or slow down the development of robots and their involvement in work
processes. Robotics can be the key in the future competitiveness of countries. However, while
robots promote efficiency in the manufacturing and production sectors, public perceptions of
them are often influenced by misconceptions and fears.
Research Topic and Research Question
New robotic technologies represent the new trend, the main difficulty presented is people‟s
approval of robots taking part in their daily lives. We do not know how this advanced type of
device will be perceived or why it will be perceived in a certain way. The aim of our study is
to figure out what causes people to feel the way they feel about robots. What the determinants
of the attitudes of people toward robots are. To figure this out we had to dig deeper and ask
questions such as, what are peoples‟ overall view of robots? Where do people most hear
about robots? What level of interest do people have in scientific discoveries and
technological developments? These are some of the questions we address in our survey. The
survey also addresses demographic information as well as, economic development and
educational status. We believe that whether a country is developed or not, age and field of
education, are the main determinants of people‟s attitudes toward robots.

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II. Literature review
Technologies have been developing faster than ever before during the last decade in order to
meet economic and social requirements. And robots and artificial intelligence (AI) are
becoming more and more common. Among the main advantages of robots scientists usually
highlight productivity and cost which is lower than that of the human labour force. Mark
Stevens (2016), for example, believes also that robots provide greater safety to human
workers by replacing them in dangerous tasks or hazardous conditions. However, he also
mentions some disadvantages of such modern technologies, namely, high initial investment
and the necessity of sophisticated programming to get robots working.
There are many concerns related to the robots and the consequences of their advancement.
For example, Clive Cookson (2016) warns that rapid strides in the development of artificial
intelligence and robotics threaten the prospect of mass unemployment, with no profession
safe, and men and women equally affected. Martin Ford (2015) quotes the Oxford University
researchers who have estimated that 47% of U.S. jobs could be automated within the next
two decades. At the same time, Vivian Giang (2015) contrarily argues that there is no need to
be afraid of losing jobs due to the robots diffusion because there will be a displacement and a
repositioning of people into jobs that do not exist today. Alice Wilson (2015) quotes young
people‟s statements concerning robots in her article. She finds that a significant part of the
younger generation consider robots an opportunity that will lead to a less stressful life for
humans. Therefore, we have scientists, engineers, managers and people of other occupations
and backgrounds, who are sticking to one of the two polar points of view.
Vishal Sikka (2017) draws attention to the existence of the fears and uncertainness of people
about the future of their jobs and about their privacy due to the creation and use of more
advanced robots. However, he believes that people can secure their future at least at some
level. He thinks education is the area where the most attention should be directed in order to
reorient education systems and provide students with basic digital literacy and ethics. These
provisions should be taken into account when designing robots and implementing them into
real life. Sikka (2017) considers this an essential factor, “to preserve human dignity and
integrity throughout the changes,” in the era of robotics development.
We are studying management in our Master program, but there is, in fact, high probability of
robots replacing humans in management positions as well. Chamorro-Premuzic and
Ahmetoglu (2016) state that although some people may feel uncomfortable about working for
a robot, robots could be more efficient in performing management job than human beings.
For example, robots would be less emotional, thus reducing conflicts at work and providing
more objective feedback, they also could be more accurate in decision-making, basing on
data analysis instead of feelings or intuition. At the same time, the authors warn that although
robots‟ creativity is developing, they are still far from being entrepreneurial and also that
humans still need human contact and emotional interaction. As Chamorro-Premuzic and
Ahmetoglu specify, “employees want recognition and appreciation from other humans rather
than AI”.

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In terms of public opinion toward robotic technologies, the Special Eurobarometer survey
(2012) finds that there exists a strong relationship between overall views of robots and
interest in science and technology: 86% of EU citizens who mentioned that they are very
interested hold positive views about robots, compared to just 42% of those who are
absolutely not interested in science and technology. Among this last group, a relative
majority (44%) has a negative view of robots. This shows that the attitude towards robots
strongly depends on personal interests and also on their education. This is because people
who have a background in scientific or technological areas are likely to have strong interest
in the field of their study. Also the Special Eurobarometer survey (2012) shows that men are
often much more interested in scientific and technological developments than women (33%
of men, for 18% of women), we can presume that in general, men have a more positive
attitude of robots.
According to Marikawa (2016), there is interdependence between robotic technologies
acceptance and the skill level of employees. In order to accelerate the development of robots
and artificial intelligence and to maintain employment opportunities at the same time, it is
necessary to upgrade human capital. Marikawa also states, that international firms and their
employees, tend to have a more positive attitude toward robotic technologies than national
ones. This indicates that globalization facilitates the development and diffusion of these new
technologies.
However, another study from 2016, “Robot Journalism: Threat or an Opportunity,” exhibits
different points of view regarding the effect of robots in the media. The interviews conducted
with the journalists in Sweden reveal two opposite opinions on robots in the media. Some
people consider them a tool to assist humans, others, as an unhelpful tool that lacks precision
and fails in performing the work correctly. This serves as an example of how differently
people can perceive new technologies, even when they work in the same industry. In our
research we will work to understand what people feel about the robots‟ expansion in different
employment areas and what factors actually influence their feelings and opinions on this
subject.

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III. Method of Data Collection and Data Description
Our method of data collection was an online quantitative survey. We created the survey on
Google Forms. This platform enabled us to easily send the survey to potential respondents.
Before finalizing the survey, we sent it to a few people to do a test run to check and fix any
flaws that may have existed in the survey. After making a few edits we finalized the survey
and began sending it to respondents. We managed to send the survey to a diverse group of
people. Many of the people that we sent the survey to were from our network. We collected
100 responses from varying age groups and backgrounds.
Definition of Variables used in the Regression Analysis
Dependent variable
The dependent variable used is „view about robots‟ an ordered discrete variable where a value
of 1 indicates that an individual has a positive view about robots , a value of 2 indicates that a
person has a neutral view about robots and a value of 3 indicates that a person has a negative
view about robots.
Independent variables
Status of Development of a country: This variable indicates if a country is a developed
country or a developing country as our sample of countries comprises only of these two
categories. A country is coded the value 1 if it is a developed country and the value 0 if it is a
developing country.
Gender: This variable indicates the gender of the individual. Gender is coded 1 if female and
0 if male.
Age: Age is divided into four categories 20-25 years of age, 26-35 years of age, 36-45 years
of age and 46-55 years of age. The first category is coded as 1, the second as 2, the third as 3
and the fourth as 4.
Professional Status: This variable talks about the professional status of each respondent.
Students are coded as 1, and employed as 2, any category that does not belong to either of
these belongs to 3.
Source of Information: This variable talks about the source from which the respondent has
heard about robots. The first category is the media category, the second is scientific readings
and the third are those who know about robots through personal experience or the experience
of friends or relatives.
Interest in technology: This variable explains the level of interest in technology for a person.
A person who has a very high interest in technology is coded as 1, a neutral interest in
technology is coded as 2 and a negative or much less interest in technology is coded as 3.

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Use of robots: This variable talks about if an individual has used a robot anytime in his life.
An individual who has used a robot at home, work or anywhere else is coded as 1 and an
individual who has not used a robot is coded as 0.
Dangerous: This variable explains if an individual considers that robots need to be carefully
managed, whether they are dangerous or not. If the individual believes that robots are
dangerous, this belief is coded as 1 and 0 otherwise.

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IV. Methodology
In the classical econometric model, the dependent variables are usually assumed to be
continuous variables. However, sometimes we face different opinions or attitudes regarding
certain aspects which in our case are opinion towards robots. Such opinions can be
represented by discrete variables. If we use a discrete explanatory variable to establish the
econometric model, we call such a model a discrete choice model, including binary choice
model and multiple choice model. Multiple choice models can further be divided into general
multiple choice and ordered multiple choice models, and the latter one focus on the
sequential options while the former does not. Because our outcomes can be ranked: the
ordering V = 1, 2, 3 represents a ranking of view of robots. Thus, this study should apply the
ordered multiple model.
Such model is involved in two kinds of multiple choice models - ordered logit model and
ordered probit model. But ordered logit model, based on the assumption that the random
disturbances are independently and identically distributed with the logistic distribution, which
is the most widely used. Therefore, this paper will use the ordered logit model, which is:
Yi* = Xi‟ + Ei
Vi = Xi‟ α
What we can actually observe is the answer given by the respondent i, in other words, is the
discrete variable Yi (i.e. 1, 2, 3). But using discrete variable to be dependent variable will
bring serious heteroscedastic and inconsistent error, so we convert it to continuous variables
Yi *. Yi * consist of a set of identified items Vi and random items Ei . Vi is a series of factors
that affect the function of Xi‟ and α is an estimated coefficient. We formalize the relationship
between Yi * and Yi as follow:
Yi = 1 if Yi* <= w1
Yi = 2 if w1≺Yi* <= w2
Yi = 3 if w2≺ Yi*
where the threshold values w1 and w2 are unknown parameters to be estimated.
Therefore, given the decision to run an ordered logistic model, the regression equation can be
written as follows:
logit(viewonrobots)(p/(1-p))=β0 + i.dvlpcntry + i.gender + i.age + i.interestintech + i.genjobs
+i.sourceofinfo + i.commonplace + i.helpfulrobots + i.stealjobs +ε

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V. Descriptive Statistics
We measure the opinion of people towards robots by respondents‟ answers to the question:
“what is your view about robots?” and the answer to this question ranges from “positive” and
“neutral” to “negative”. The variable is equal to 1 if the subject gives the answer “positive”,
V = 2 if the answer is “neutral”, and V = 3 when the answer is “negative”. As can be seen in
Table 1, the proportion of the answers “positive”, “neutral” and “negative” is 32%, 61% and
7% respectively. This shows us that the majority of people have a neutral attitude towards
robots.
Table 1.
In addition, a preliminary analysis of the survey results reveals some important demographic
characteristics of the respondents. Most of the respondents (52%) were young - between 20-
25 years old. Gender distribution is almost equal with 52% of male and 48% of female
respondents.Out of 100 respondents 62% are coming from developing countries and countries
in transition.
Table 2.
We have also run a correlation test to quantify the association between variables. In
correlation analysis, we estimate a sample correlation coefficient, more specifically the
Pearson Product Moment correlation coefficient. The sample correlation coefficient ranges

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between -1 and +1 and quantifies the direction and strength of the linear association between
the two variables. The sign of the correlation coefficient indicates the direction of the
association. The magnitude of the correlation coefficient indicates the strength of the
association.
Table 3.
From the Table 3,there is a positive correlation between the level of country‟s development
and the opinion on robots. However, we can observe a negative correlation between the age
and such opinion. Furthermore, we can see a positive correlation between the gender and our
independent variable, which means that being a male or female can influence the view on
robots. Whether people think that robots generate jobs or not is also positively correlated with
the attitude towards robots.
Our questionnaire also included several descriptive questions, among which was what fields
people consider more or less appropriate for the use of robots. We asked to choose three areas
from the list to see the most acceptable ones. In graph 1 below, we see that most of the
respondents believe robots should be primarily used in manufacturing and in space
exploration, with the areas of search and rescue, transport, and military trailing close behind.

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Graph 1. Areas where robots should be used according to public opinions
We used the same fields for the next question which is about where the use of robots would
be unfavourable. Here most of the respondents choose education and healthcare, which are
the industries that traditionally involve a lot of social contact. Meaning most people cannot
accept the use of robots in social interactions due to either personal fears or lack of trust in
robots. At the same time, many people believe that robots can be used in any of the fields
(almost the same percentage as for robots‟ avoidance in healthcare). In comparing graphs 1
and 2 we notice that there are fewer responses for graph 2. Most likely people confined
themselves to only one answer to the second question, while giving all three answers to the
first.
Graph 2. Areas where robots should not be used according to public opinions
We also wanted to see if the positive or negative opinion depends on whether a person
believes that robots can replace him or her in the job place. In graph 3, it is clear that most of

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the respondents think that it cannot happen, while only 8,7% of people admit that it may
happen.
Graph 3. Do people think that robots can perform their job
Based on our literature review, we see this as an optimistic belief since robots can already
perform hundreds of different tasks, such as serving as nurses or waiters and creating music
and video. Thus, it is possible that the overall neutral or even rather positive public view of
robots is based on the belief that robots do not pose any danger to the employment status of
people who have filled in the questionnaire.

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VI. Results and analysis
Annex 1 and Annex 2 present the results from applying the ordered logit model to our
dataset.
1. Going from a male to a female increases the probability of having a negative view about
robots.This result is significant at 1% level of significance. That is males have a more
positive view of robots than females.
Being a female increases the probability of having a negative view about robots by 2.59 times
than that of a male.
2. Moving from having heard about robots in the media, to having heard about robots from
scientific readings and personal experience, respectively increases the probability of having a
positive view of robots which is both significant at 5 % level.
Becoming aware of robots through scientific readings and personal experience increases the
probability of having a positive view of robots by 26 % and 28 % respectively.
3. Moving from a negative to positive interest in technology increases the probability of
having a positive view of robots. This result is significant at 1 % level of significance.
Having a positive interest in technology increases the probability of having a positive view on
robots by 1.3 %.
4. Moving from not having used robots to having used robots in their lifetime increases the
probability of having a positive view of robots. This result is significant at 1% level of
significance.
An individual who has used robots in his life time is 41 % more likely to have a positive
view of robots than an individual who has not used robots in his lifetime.
5. Moving from the belief of not having the individual's job stolen to having their job stolen
increases the likelihood of having a negative view of robots. This result is significant 1%.
Someone's belief that robots will steal his/her job increases their probability of having a
negative view of robots by 4 times more than if the individual believed robots will not steal
his/her job.
Analysis of results
We expected the result that being more interested in science and technology would increase
the probability of having a positive opinion of robots given the previous studies (for example,
Special Eurobarometer Survey 2012).
Men remain more interested in technological discoveries and development and they are more
often occupied in the technological fields than women. It also should be mentioned that these
are men who usually perform more dangerous and physically demanding jobs. This may be

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one of the factors that explains men‟s positive attitude to the technologies which can reduce
their operating duties and risks.
Surprisingly for us, there was only the slightest correlation between the opinion on robots and
the country of origin. We expected that citizens of developed countries which can afford and
which actually implement more advanced technologies would have a more favorable view
about robots than those in developing countries. However, the coefficient does not prove to
be significant, although we should keep in mind that our sample is small and possibly partly
biased.
Also unexpectedly, age factor was not significant. We did not meet any indications that it
should be but we believed that the younger generation (20-25 years old) had been more
exposed to the new technologies and should, thus, be more positive-minded about robots. At
the same time, we found that students have a more positive opinion of robots than working
people. Since students are mostly people of 20-25 years old, this contradicts the previous
finding. It is possible that age can be significant only in combination with particular fields of
study, although we are not sure exactly what lies behind this unexpected result.
Contrarily, the results for the source of information about robots met our expectations. We
considered that people who heard about robots from the media would have a more negative
opinion of them, because of the different possible ways of manipulation of information.
While those who read scientific research with strong evidence, and those who had personally
experienced interaction with robots would have more positive attitude. Our results confirm
this point.

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VII.Conclusion
Robots are programmable mechanical devices that can perform complicated tasks
automatically and the multiplication of their use across different sectors of the market
through time has been exponential. The advancement of technology has been raising
numerous debates that continuously try to determine whether robots should be considered as
threats or opportunities.
The main objective of this paper has been to identify the determinants of public opinions
towards robots. By conducting a survey of over a 100 individuals, the gathered data was used
to run an ordered logit model in order to understand what were the main drivers of opinions
on robots. The chosen dependent variable was measured through the question: “what is your
view about robots?” The answer to the question ranges from, “positive,” to “neutral,” to
“negative.”. The sample was well balanced between professional status as well as for gender.
By confronting the gender, age, professional status, status of development of a country,
source of information, interest in technology, source of information, use of robots and
carefulness of use to the dependent, the results were as follows.
The obtained result came in agreement with the ones obtained by previous studies done with
citizens from within the European Union. Individuals would also seem to have a more
positive opinion on robots when informed through scientific documentation or having
personally experienced contact with robots, than when through the media (television, movies
etc). People interested in technology also have a higher probability (+ 1,3%) of positive
attitude towards robots. The same phenomenon occurs when comparing individuals that have
not used robots and the ones that have. The regression confirms that workers who believe that
robots may replace them at their job station have a probability of having a negative view four
times more than those who do not think so. Surprisingly, women also tend to be more
skeptical than men regarding robots (about 2,59 times more skeptical). The age and country
variables do not seem to have any significance in the model and therefore do not influence
one‟s opinion regarding robots.
Therefore, we have found that the opinions on robots are mostly positive, however, this paper
does not cover all possible drivers of public opinion towards robots and additional research
should complement its findings. Understanding the effect of the individuals‟ field of study,
number of years of their education, frequency of their use of robots and other factors could
bring more answers to what people all over the world think about the robots expansion in day
to day life.

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ANNEXES
Annex 1. Theresults

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Annex 2. Odds ratio for the results