Around the world, public faith in technology is on the rise, with AI now considered the most influential emerging technology in the years ahead, and the one which will have the greatest positive impact on society.

Bosch’s 2026 Tech Compass report found broad consensus among the more than 11,000 people surveyed worldwide that technology is making the world a better place, but also revealed the first warning signs of “progress fatigue”.

According to the electronics giant, which polled people across Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, the UK, and the US, 70% of people now view AI as a transformative force for good, up from 41% just three years ago, however more than half (57%) would like to slow down the pace of development until its effects are better understood.

Despite the UK government’s push to embed AI into citizens’ daily lives, British respondents scored above the global average, with 64% agreeing that the speed of AI should be tempered until we can grasp the wider consequences of the technology.  

While China (87%) and India (84%) were the most upbeat about the impact of emerging technology, Germany (59%) and France (53%) were notably more cautious, a divide which may reflect how deeply AI is already woven into some economies.

Bosch’s research underscores AI’s outsized influence. One in four people globally already rank it as the most beneficial technology of the last twenty years, behind only smartphones, despite AI entering the mainstream in 2022.

All signs suggest that momentum is only building, with 70% saying that AI will continue to be the most influential technology of the next ten years, coming far ahead of 5G (30%), self-driving cars (22%) and biotech (20%), though 34% still ranked AI above all other technologies when it comes to potential negative effects on society.

The study captures the core dilemma around AI’s so far unknowable long-term impact. In the UK, for example, AI is simultaneously viewed as the most beneficial technology (38%) and the most worrying (41%), a pattern echoed across many other countries.

“For us at Bosch, this is a clear mission: innovation must go hand in hand with responsibility,” said Tanja Rueckert, a CDO and board member of Bosch.

“That’s why it’s especially important that we introduce rules for trustworthy AI worldwide. At the same time, efforts should be made to avoid stifling the development and use of AI through overregulation.”

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Away from AI, the study found that people are most eager for innovation in personal health technology, coming first for every country other than Germany, where it was second behind sustainable living solutions. 

Overall, half of all respondents (50%) said that breakthroughs in health would most meaningfully improve their lives over the next five years, with 31% agreeing that healthcare accessibility was one of the top global challenges for innovation in the near future.

Still, most wouldn’t choose to give up their privacy in exchange for better healthcare, with those across Europe, the US, and the UK wary of allowing tech like AI unfettered access to their health data, even if it meant free healthcare.

“The true potential of technological innovation isn’t found on screens or in virtual spaces,” said Dr. Stefan Hartung, chairman of the board at Bosch.  

“It’s revealed where it meets the physical world — where things move, and technology makes people’s lives easier and safer.”