Awareness and Understanding of Artificial Intelligence and Super Intelligence

Washington, D.C., October 20, 2026 – A new Ipsos survey explores Americans' awareness of and confidence in understanding Artificial Intelligence and Super Intelligence.

Americans are far more familiar with and confident in their understanding of Artificial Intelligence than Super Intelligence. Nearly half (49%) say they have heard a great deal or quite a bit about AI, compared with just 13% who say the same about SI. Similarly, among those familiar with the terms, 65% report being at least somewhat confident in their understanding of AI, versus 51% for SI.

About the Study

This Ipsos poll was conducted October 9-11, 2026, by Ipsos using the probability-based KnowledgePanel®. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 1,016 general population adults aged 18 or older.

The survey included the following four questions. A random half of respondents were presented the questions about Artificial Intelligence followed by the questions about Super Intelligence. The other random half were presented the Super Intelligence questions followed by the Artificial Intelligence questions.

The study was conducted in English. The data were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race and ethnicity, census region, metropolitan status, education, household income, 2024 vote choice, and political party identification. Political party identification benchmarks are from the 2026 NPORS annual survey. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2026 March supplement of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS).

• Gender (Male, Female) by Age (18–29, 30–44, 45-59 and 60+)
• Race/Hispanic Ethnicity (White Non-Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic, Other, Non-Hispanic, Hispanic, 2+ Races, Non-Hispanic)
• Education (Less than High School, High School, Some College, Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree or higher)
• Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West)
• Metropolitan status (Metro, non-Metro)
• Household Income (Under $25,000, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, $75,000-$99,999, $100,000-$149,999, $150,000+)
• 2024 Vote Choice (Trump, Harris, Another candidate, Did not vote)
• Political Party ID (Democrat, Lean Democrat, Republican, Lean Republican, Independent/Something else)

The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of sampling error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.05. The margin of sampling error is higher and varies for results based on sub-samples. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Alec Tyson
Senior Vice President, US
Public Affairs
[email protected]

About Ipsos

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