Two-thirds of Manitobans using AI, but a lot aren’t happy about it, survey reveals

Manitobans admit they rely on artificial intelligence for daily activities, but are troubled by the emerging technology’s impact on the environment, job security and beyond.

More than half of Manitobans surveyed say they see AI in a negative light, compared to one-third who view it positively, a new Probe Research poll found.

They are, however, regularly turning to it. More than two-thirds say they’re using AI tools for things such as seeking health information, finishing up work tasks and writing professional communications, including emails. Nearly 20 per cent have asked AI for advice or emotional support, with men, younger adults and higher-income earners doing so, the survey found.

“I think (AI) just builds right out of what our experiences have been with social media for the last 20 years, where there’s both good and bad,” said Curtis Brown, a partner at Probe Research.

Seven in 10 Manitobans are trying to limit how often they use AI, with women (78 per cent) and lower-income earners (81 per cent) showing the strongest resolve. Additionally, service-sector and white-collar workers are more likely to say they’re dialing back their AI habit compared to their blue-collar contemporaries.

“If you’re in something where AI can do it quickly, more efficiently, your livelihood is a little more likely to be at risk,” Brown said. “In that sense, it’s maybe not particularly surprising that they’re a little more wary of it.”

Probe describes Manitobans’ views of AI as “polarized” — with “very negative views” nearly doubling to 27 per cent over the past year. Those with “positive views” increased slightly, from 28 to 36 per cent.

Nearly all surveyed (95 per cent) say AI content needs to be clearly labelled, a finding that echoes a December Probe poll for the Free Press on media literacy, which revealed most Manitobans aren’t confident they can tell whether video footage is AI-generated. Only one-third of those surveyed in the recent poll agree there are enough safeguards in place ensuring companies and people use the technology responsibly.

On the question of whether the Manitoba government should aggressively encourage companies to build AI data centres here, only one-third are in favour, while half of those surveyed are opposed, with three in 10 strongly opposed.

Premier Wab Kinew has endorsed building AI data centres, in keeping with his pledges to transform Manitoba from a “have-not” to a “have” province.

“We should stop sending all of our information south of the border. And we should start building up capacity here in Manitoba, and across Canada,” he said last October.

Nearly two-thirds of Manitobans worry a great deal about the environmental impacts of building and running AI data centres, which consume large amounts of energy and water to remain operational.

“There is a lot of anxiety that we’re seeing, and the attitudes are polarizing,” Brown said. “The province (may be) a logical place to host data centres, but you’re probably going to see a strong and fairly vocal minority opposing those efforts.”

Meanwhile, the AI revolution isn’t accelerating rapidly in the province, Probe found, with about one-third of Manitoba businesses integrating AI into their operations. Although three-quarters of Manitobans are worried about AI taking jobs, that view isn’t shared by the business community.

“A decreasing proportion of Manitoba businesses (eight per cent, down from 14 per cent last year) expect to reduce their employee count because of AI,” Probe states.

The results came from two sources — a survey of 725 Manitoba adults who belong to Probe Research’s online panel in late January and early February and Probe’s annual survey of 202 business owners and manager in February. Because the online panel is a non-probability sample, no margin of error can be ascribed. The results from the latter survey are within plus/minus 6.9 percentage points if all private-sector businesses had been surveyed.

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