Beyond Fear and Feelings Toward Technological Singularity: Understanding Psychological Factors Shaping Attitudes Toward AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has advanced rapidly in recent years and is now embedded in everyday life. However, its novelty and widespread impact make it crucial to explore the psychological factors underlying its acceptance and integration. In the present research (N = 159), we aim to understand better how fear and feelings toward technological singularity (TS) – the point at which AI surpasses human intelligence and becomes self-improving – are related to the perceived consequences of TS, ultimately influencing our attitudes toward AI. As expected, people with more positive attitudes towards AI also perceived TS as more positive and showed lower fear toward it. Next, we tested the proposed model with fear and feelings as predictors, perceived consequences as mediators, and attitudes toward AI as the outcome. We also included the use of AI as an additional predictor of attitudes. The model presented a good fit (e.g., CFI and TLI = .99); most predictions were supported. By providing a more in-depth understanding of key factors rooted in the idea of technological singularity and how they influence our attitudes toward AI, our findings can help develop targeted education and awareness campaigns to address concerns and misconceptions about AI.