Italians’ attitudes towards AI: how technology issues travel across social conversation

This paper explores public perceptions of artificial intelligence (AI) in Italy through the lens of science communication as a ‘social conversation around science’. Drawing on nationally representative survey data collected in 2023 and 2024 by the Observa Science in Society Monitor, it analyses how Italians access information about AI, their self-assessed information level, the use of AI-based tools, and attitudes toward the technology’s societal implications. The findings show a persistent gap between exposure to AI and perceived understanding of it: despite growing media visibility and public discussion, most Italians still report low levels of information. At the same time, the use of AI-based tools increased markedly between 2023 and 2024, especially in relation to chatbots and other generative applications. Public attitudes are strongly context-dependent: AI is widely accepted in safety-related domains, but encounters greater resistance in areas such as journalism, education, and the workplace. Symbolic representations of AI, such as humanoid robots, also remain salient, particularly among respondents with less direct familiarity with AI applications. Multivariate analyses further show that age, education, gender, self-perceived knowledge, and practical engagement with AI significantly shape how the technology is imagined and evaluated. Overall, the Italian case reveals a pattern of critical ambivalence rather than simple technophobia, in which expectations of usefulness coexist with concerns about risks and regulation. The paper argues that understanding how different publics engage with AI is essential for developing communication and governance strategies that are socially responsive and attentive to differentiated experiences, imaginaries, and concerns.