Attitudes toward artificial intelligence (AI) and globalization: Common microfoundations and political implications

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are reshaping labor markets and sparking political debates. Like economic globalization, AI developments promise benefits, including job creation and lower prices, but also costs such as job displacement, raising crucial questions about public perceptions. Will AI, like globalization, challenge existing paradigms and trigger a backlash? Leveraging a conjoint experiment with 6,000 respondents from the United States and Canada, we examine public opinion toward offshoring and generative AI, focusing on the multidimensional trade-offs between job and price changes. Across all scenarios, respondents are equally or more sensitive to price changes than employment shifts. AI is favored over offshoring, especially among Democrats, highlighting an emerging partisan divide in the United States. Republicans and Canadians show more varied support, indicating AI is not immune to opposition. By focusing on the microfoundations of opinion formation, we identify scenarios that may trigger or temper protectionist stances.