How artificial intelligence influenced Switzerland’s vote on e-ID

Scepticism and fear of AI are particularly strong among older people. Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

Studies show that mistrust of artificial intelligence (AI) is growing in Switzerland with private companies’ use of personal data a top concern. This might explain why many Swiss voters are against the digitisation of identity documents.

The narrow margin by which the Swiss people accepted the introduction of electronic identity documentation (e-ID) on Sunday confirms their cautious attitude towards digital innovations. According to some studies, this extends to artificial intelligence.

AI represents the symbol of technology-related fears: it is perceived as powerful but opaque, dominated by large international companies. The studyExternal link “Smart and Human” by the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (GDI) highlighted the distrust among the population.

The majority of the 3,000 people surveyed in Switzerland, Germany and Austria believe that AI will change their lives for the worse and that companies will benefit over users, for example by increasing automation and decreasing wages. The study shows that most people do not trust companies to use AI responsibly.

Did this mistrust play a role in Swiss voters’ caution when it comes to e-ID?

AI and the fear of surveillance

Thanks to AI and technologies such as 5G and the cloud, “[digital] services are more efficient, but this hyperconnectivity is not always positive”, says Gian-Luca Savino, trend researcher at the GDI.

Savino says that very advanced forms of digitisation, in which individual “super applications” give access to an entire ecosystem of services and functions, can be misused for mass surveillance. A prominent example is WeChat in China, an app with which one can do virtually anything – pay, call, shop – but through which the Chinese government exercises political control and censorship over the population.

Such examples of abuse, often cited in the media, contribute to scepticism of advanced technology in democratic societies. “Our data show that the population is concerned that technology makes it easier to violate privacy,” says Savino.

In Switzerland in particular, attitudes towards AI seem more negative than in Austria and Germany, with more people saying they feel ‘fear’ towards AI. “Compared to their neighbours, the Swiss express more negative and fewer positive emotions, expect AI to do more harm in society and see less personal benefit,” Gianluca Scheidegger, consumer researcher and one of the authors of the GDI study, says via email.

AI and the power of Big Tech

The overwhelming power of big tech companies also influences public scepticism about AI. It is now well known that Big Tech possesses the data of billions of users and exploits it at will, for instance to make their AI applications more powerful. This is the case, for instance, with the chatbot ChatGPT and many other tools.

“Today it’s the Wild West: Google and co possess more data than we’re willing to accept,” argues Andy Fitze, co-founder of the research and consulting organisation Swiss Cognitive. According to Fitze, artificial intelligence allows big companies to use more data, more precisely. “People have realised this and now really want to know where their data is stored and how it is used,” he says.

The era of using personal data without people knowing about it or being able to receive compensation for it is over, he adds.

The risk of data ending up in the hands of large technology companies was one of the main reasons for the referendum against e-ID in Switzerland. “Identity control on the internet will become a financial boon for Big Tech and the surveillance economy,” says the websiteExternal link of the “no to e-ID” committee.

“Many people hesitate at the idea that their data could end up in the wrong hands,” says Angela Müller, director of AlgorithmWatch CH.

While Müller welcomes the result of Sunday’s vote, she thinks this may have prompted part of the population to vote no on the e-ID issue. Some people may have feared being left behind in the face of a technology described as ‘a force of nature’. “This dominant narrative frightens a segment of the electorate,” she says.

Demographics play a role in this negative perception: the Swiss population is getting older, with around 13% of the population over the age of 65 compared to 19.9% under 19. The GDI data show that older generations trust AI less. “Older people are much more sceptical,” says Savino.

Voters over 65 are also the group that usually takes part the most in popular votes in Switzerland.

Democracies more reticent but more transparent

In general, people living in European democracies seem more reticent about introducing digital services than those in other parts of the world with different political systems.

Scepticism towards technology is stronger in countries with more polarised politics where inter-party campaigns are heated and governments have to work harder to win the trust of the population. “Countries with direct democracy like Switzerland are notoriously slower to introduce change,” says Savino.

But the fact that Switzerland has been slower than some other countries to digitise its services is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, Switzerland is the country with “the greatest potential for democracy-compatible digitisation”, the author of a study on the benefits of slow digitisation recently told Swissinfo.

The Swiss population is also realising the benefits of being able to use digital services, with more than two-thirds of people in Switzerland in contact with the public administration digitally. That represents an increase of 4% compared to 2021, according to the latest National eGovernment StudyExternal link. Data from the GDI shows that efficiency in this area is the most-expected improvement thanks to AI among the general population.

Savino believes that the state-run and more transparent architecture of the new e-ID, in which the public has control over its data and can see who accesses it and how, puts Switzerland in a very good position to expand digital use and acceptance. “It shows how digital tools can be used for the benefit of the population,” he says.

Edited by Veronica De Vore/ts