Radar Pulse: Winning the debate on AI
We have reached a critical juncture in the future of artificial intelligence. Technologically, commercially and geopolitically, the stakes have never been higher. And public and policymaker opinion is shifting with them.
Our latest FGS Global Radar research shows the debate is fluid, not settled. Attitudes can still be shaped. The potential benefits of AI are not fully understood - which creates opportunity for those who communicate them well, and risk for those who don't.
Influencing the AI debate
The next 6-12 months will be decisive. Regulations, M&A conditions, industrial strategies and sovereignty policies will all be shaped by how this debate unfolds. Businesses across the AI stack - frontier labs, infrastructure providers, deployers and investors - have an outsized role to play.
We carried out this research to help companies understand where opinion stands, where it is moving, and where the opportunities are to lead the debate.
The broader public mood toward AI seems mixed: widespread adoption combined with growing unease.”
1%
of respondents reported a more positive overall view of AI, when presented with AI’s potential benefits.
What the research shows
The public are persuadable.
When respondents were exposed to the practical benefits of AI, 37% shifted to a more positive view. In the US and Germany, that figure rose to 46% and 44% respectively. The case has not been made - but it can be.
Safety is non-negotiable.
63% of the public believe AI safety should take precedence over the global AI race. This holds as firmly in the US as it does in Canada, Europe and Japan. Arguments rooted in geopolitical competition are not resonating.
Sovereignty matters, but so does pragmatism.
76% of the public say AI sovereignty is important. Yet over half of Americans and significant proportions across Europe and Japan remain comfortable with foreign technology - if companies localise meaningfully, pay taxes, hire locally and invest in communities.
Regulation is coming.
Only 7% of the public support self-regulation on cybersecurity. The question is no longer whether oversight will increase, but what form it will take and who helps shape it.
A critical moment for AI - and for those who shape it
Companies operating across the AI stack - frontier labs, infrastructure providers, deployers and investors - have an outsized role to play in the next six to twelve months. This period will determine the shape of regulation across major markets, influence M&A conditions and set the terms of industrial and sovereignty policy for years ahead.
FGS Global helps businesses exposed to AI navigate public and political opinion at exactly the moment when it matters most. From political intelligence and stakeholder mapping to communications strategy and executive positioning, we bring together the research capability, policy expertise and strategic advisory to help companies participate - and lead - in this debate.
Methodology
The FGS Global AI Radar Pulse is based on both qualitative and quantitative research.
We conducted nationally representative polls in Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, the UK and the US: totalling 7,052 respondents. To compare the views of the public with expert perspectives, we also carried out 39 in-depth interviews with senior leaders and policy experts globally from the worlds of politics, regulation, business and academia.
