Here are four key takeaways from the survey, which polled more than 10,000 people in the U.S., U.K. and Canada:
1. An average of about 70 percent of respondents in all three countries predicted that the impact of artificial intelligence on how people work and live in the next decade will be very or mostly positive.
2. Fewer than 10 percent of college-educated respondents said they believe their undergraduate education adequately prepared them for the use of AI in the workplace. While more than 70 percent of Americans said employers should take on the responsibility of training and upskilling workers in the rapidly changing era of automation, a majority of Canadian and British respondents believe that responsibility belongs to the government.
3. As for which particular skills will offer protection to employees at risk of being replaced by automation, about 60 percent of respondents from Canada and the U.K. said teamwork, creativity, communication and critical thinking will stand the test of time. Americans, meanwhile, were split between those “soft” skills and more technical ones such as math, science, coding and data management.
4. Americans also differed from the rest of those surveyed regarding the idea of installing a safety net in the workforce: While about 75 percent of Canadians and Brits supported a universal basic income program that would help those who lose their jobs to AI, more than half of respondents in the U.S. opposed the plan.
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