Yes, human beings have embraced technology as an integral part of their personal and professional lives, but not without reservations. As new technologies emerge and advancements take place, there has been a growing concern that technology may take over jobs done by humans completely. What with robots already replacing humans in many domains, this concern is rather legitimate. What is surprising is that India seems to have welcomed both artificial intelligence (AI) and humanoid/service robots more openly than many other nations.
Bosch’s fourth annual Tech Compass survey tried to find out whether it was artificial intelligence (AI) or humanoid robots/service robots that people feared most for their negative impact on society. The participants of the online survey, aged 18 and above, were spread across seven countries— Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, UK and the US.
Interestingly, the fear of artificial intelligence being the biggest threat is lesser in 2025 than it was in 2024. While globally, on an average, 38 per cent of the respondents thought AI was the biggest threat in 2024, in 2025, the number has come down to 34 per cent. At the same time, the same percentage of respondents felt humanoid robots/service robots are the biggest threat in 2024 as well as 2025 (30 per cent).
About 19 per cent of the respondents feel that self-driving/automated cars are the biggest threats, while 16 per cent feel industrial robots will have the maximum negative impact on society.
A small portion (14 per cent) of the respondents believe that virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR) will have an adverse impact on society, while ten per cent believe that biotechnology will. Nine per cent feel that block chain is the biggest threat to society, followed by seven per cent who believe Internet of Things (IoT) is. Seven per cent of the respondents believe that quantum computing is the biggest threat, while four per cent believe it is 3D printing and four per cent think it is 5G.
Again, it is surprising that only 28 per cent of Indians are unwelcoming of humanoid robots/service robots, and only 22 per cent see artificial intelligence as a threat to society. That is a revelation. In Brazil, 44 per cent see humanoid robots/service robots as a huge threat, followed by artificial intelligence (37 per cent). A good 46 per cent of the respondents in the UK, 42 per cent in France, 43 per cent in Denmark, and 40 per cent in the US consider artificial intelligence as the biggest threat to society.
Only 31 per cent of the respondents in the UK, 28 per cent in France, 19 per cent in Denmark, and 28 per cent in the US consider humanoid / service robots as the biggest threat to society.
When asked whether it is possible for an AI to win the Nobel Prize in the future, a whopping 68 per cent of the Indian respondents said ‘yes’, followed by 63 per cent Chinese, 45 per cent Brazilians, 38 per cent Americans, 38 per cent French, 33 per cent British and 31 per cent Danish.
A whopping 72 per cent Indian respondents felt AI should have the right to patent its own inventions. In China, 65 per cent of the respondents agreed, 35 per cent agreed in the US, 34 per cent in Brazil and 30 per cent in the UK. Only 28 per cent in France and 20 per cent in Denmark saw AI as a market competitor. Clearly, India is more progressive than many other nations when it comes to automation and AI.