YKA Special on Artificial Intelligence YouKnowAnot Singapore s Leading Monthly Public Survey EDAY ROBOTS ASIAN CONSUMERS & ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CHINESE CONSUMERS MOST WILLING TO ADAPT Key findings from the study highlighting market differences follow: (A FIVE COUNTRY ANALYSIS BY BLACKBOX) Whether it s your home, your car, your supermarket or your local family restaurant, it seems that artificial intelligence is about to enter our everyday lives in a significant manner. MOST LEAST In recent polling across five countries Singapore, Japan, China, South Korea and Indonesia Blackbox Research found that just under four in five Asians (79%) are comfortable with artificial intelligence entering their everyday lives. Blackbox asked Asians about their level of comfort with artificial intelligence/ robots: Overall, Chinese consumers appear most willing to adopt AI across various areas of their lives, whilst Indonesians are the most sceptical and resistant. Asians also appear most comfortable with AI entering their homes to help out with household chores and functions. However, Singaporeans and the Japanese are least comfortable with robot-led teaching and education, while South Koreans are more resistant to robots being used in health care.
COMFORT LEVELS THROUGHOUT ASIA WITH ROBOTICS & AI BECOMING MORE COMMON IN EDAY LIFE LIFE: JAPAN 62% 13% UN 64% 22% UN 4% 18% UN 2% UN 15% 14% 75% UN 1% UN 10% SINGAPORE 56% UN 31% 8% UN 5% 52% UN 37% 5% 66% 12% UN 3% UN 19% UN 6% ALL OF ASIA
SOCIAL SERVICES: EDUCATION 58% - ALL OF ASIA Asians feel least comfortable with their children being educated by robots or using AI educational tools. Despite Japan having long developed such technology, the Japanese long known for their traditional culture and practices - seem less willing to modernise in this sector. 43% 46% 70% 60% 40% HEALTHCARE 62% - ALL OF ASIA Indonesians are very opposed to the idea of their healthcare needs being looked after by a robot, as are South Koreans known for their frequent visits to beauticians and cosmetic surgeons. In aging Japan, where much of the healthcare workforce is made up of foreign workers from South-East Asia, the comfort levels with robots in the healthcare industry appear to be higher. 46% 67% 78% 42% 39% TRANSPORT 66% - ALL OF ASIA Surprisingly for a country playing host to the world s first self-driving taxis, less than half of Singaporeans are comfortable with AI integration in their transport, suggesting a decrease in trust in self-automated transport post July s runaway LRT incident. Ironically, in countries where most of the public transport is still being operated predominantly with human drivers such as in China comfort levels appear to be higher. 49% 63% 76% 68% 47%
SUPERMARKETS 77% - ALL OF ASIA Most of Asia seems ready to accept AI into their retail shopping lives, especially in supermarkets, where self-checkout systems are becoming an everyday norm. 73% 70% 86% 69% 68% HOTELS 71% - ALL OF ASIA Although Japan has the world s first fully robot-run hotel, China leads the way when it comes to acceptance of AI technology in the hospitality industry. 61% 64% 85% 56% 53% RESTAURANTS 67% - ALL OF ASIA Koreans and the Japanese, both known for their culture s passion and pride for good food, are much less keen to see robots in their restaurants than their supermarkets, suggesting a desire to maintain their culinary skills. 59% 57% 84% 49% 45%
HOME: HOUSE CONTROLS 80% - ALL OF ASIA South Korea is home to Samsung, and along with that, much of the world s latest AI-integrated household control technology. Thus, it is unsurprising that Koreans seem readiest to invite this technology into their homes, alongside the Chinese. 74% 75% 87% 79% 69% HOUSE CHORES 79% - ALL OF ASIA Nearly nine out of ten Chinese are more than ready to swap places with a robot when it comes to completing their household chores, whilst nations like Japan and Korea where such technology is already readily available, experience comfort with robots in this sector amongst three-quarters of their population. 67% 76% 88% 75% 67% The survey findings show that the potential for artificial intelligence in Asia is enormous. Theoretically, Asians have always been quick adaptors of new technology, and it would seem that the region is now poised to lead the rest of the world in embracing even higher forms of technology. Moving forwards, this is likely to have profound social and economic impact across the region. Blackbox Research surveyed N=3,213 adult respondents across five countries China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Indonesia between October 12th and October 23rd 2016. For further information on Blackbox s research on AI & robotics through Asia, please contact: nicholas@blackbox.com.sg
Who We Are You Know Anot Get In Touch Blackbox Research is an award-winning Singapore based agency specialising in communications insights. We provide advanced research, analytics and digital intelligence services for both public sector and commercial clients. Our team has expertise covering market research, strategic communications and messaging, advertising and public policy. YouKnowAnot is our monthly community survey platform that has been running since 2013. We interview a representative sample of 1,000 Singaporeans every month. We now use a geographically strati ed online sample. Our methodology also applies quota controls to ensure representative demographic coverage of the population. If you would like to purchase customised questions for your organisation or want to dig into our historical general community data/demographic information, please contact nicholas@blackbox.com.sg for assistance. Blackbox Resear The Herencia 46 Kim Yam Road t (65) 6323 1351 #01-08 f (65) 6323 1327 Singapore 239351 w www.blackbox.com.sg Copyright 2016 Blackbox Research All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of Blackbox Research, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, please contact nicholas@blackbox.com.sg.