As government faces calls for ‘minimum wage for robots’, poll finds nearly half want tax on AI work with growing apathy for automation discourse.

This week it was reported that tech entrepreneur Charles Radclyffe had called for a ‘minimum wage for robots’, wanting the government to charge companies who use AI in order to limit job losses.

In response, YouGov polled the population on what they think, discovering that almost half of Britons (47%) would support a tax on work done by AI, compared to 20% who are opposed.

Out of 4,200 adults asked, ‘would you support or oppose requiring firms to pay a tax for work that is done by AI?’, 23% strongly supported the idea, and 24% somewhat supported it.

The notion was strongly opposed by 11% of those polled, and similarly 9% said they somewhat oppose the idea.

However, as automation has been taking headlines in previous years, it may come as no surprise that AI apathy has seemingly gripped the population. The most subscribed to view was ‘don’t know’, chosen by 33% of those surveyed.

As it is election season up and down the UK, YouGov decided to split the findings into political affiliation.

Those who voted Labour, Liberal Democrat or Green at the last election were much more likely (55-58%) to support a tax on AI work, while 38% of Conservative voters said the same (outnumbering the 27% who opposed).

Reform UK voters were split, with 34% supporting an AI tax but 31% opposed.

Respondents were also asked: ‘Following on from our question about a tax on work done by AI, what impact do you see AI having on the UK in the next 10 years?’

The survey found that a major area people expect to be impacted is employment and the labour market.

Answers in this category encompassed AI reshaping work and employment structures in the UK. This included a belief that AI would automate roles, change sectoral demand, and evolve career paths.

One respondent stated: ‘In the next 10 years a lot of firms will be heavily reliant on AI. It will mean workers having to retrain and pursuing other career paths’.

Some respondents brought up issues to do with information integrity and trust. These answers included comments about AI generated misinformation, deepfakes, frauds, and cyber threats.

One respondent stated: ‘Fraud will rise, nuisance tracking, privacy will be lost as will trust as it becomes harder and harder to differentiate between what's real and what's not’. 

Other themes touched on included the effect on culture and creativity.

‘The arts will be hugely affected as poor quality AI slop can replace new work. Some laborious processes e.g. transposing music or redrawing design iterations will be made easier and quicker’, said one respondent.

Perhaps ironically, YouGov used an AI to track respondents.

‘The AI agent conducted interviews with each respondent, following up on their responses to provide “the why” behind what Britons think’, YouGov said.