Frankfurt/Main (dpa) - Artificial intelligence (AI) is seen by people in Germany as the most important digital technology of the future. This is the result of a representative survey published on Sunday by Yougov, which was commissioned by the Internet exchange operator DE-CIX in Frankfurt. 41% of respondents assumed that AI would prevail in the future.

The topic of artificial intelligence has received a great deal of public attention in recent months due to the ChatGPT text robot from the Californian start-up OpenAI. The world's largest software company, Microsoft, has invested billions to integrate OpenAI technology into its products on a broad front. This is linked to an attempt to challenge the supremacy of internet giant Google. Google, in turn, countered the move with its own AI chatbot ("Bard") and broad AI integration in Google Search and other Google services.

The hype surrounding AI is pushing back another fashionable topic that was still making headlines two years ago, namely the metaverse. This term refers to a digital and interactive environment that can be entered with virtual reality glasses. Users can work, play, meet or shop in it as avatars. However, the metaverse also includes applications in which digital information is displayed in the user's real field of vision. However, only 14% of people in Germany currently believe that new digital VR worlds such as the metaverse will become established as a future technology.

In contrast, four out of ten respondents (40%) believe that the "smart home" concept will also be relevant as a technology in the long term. The term refers to an "intelligent home" in which electronic devices are networked and processes are automated in such a way that they make everyday life easier for residents or help to save energy. The figures are lower for e-health (28%) and smart city and autonomous driving (24% each).

Respondents call for grid expansion

In the Yougov survey, 59% of respondents said that the network needs to be better developed in order to meet the future requirements of new technologies. Half of Germans (51%) would like to see lower costs for Internet connections (mobile and stationary) in the future. 20% of Germans would be prepared to pay more for better connections.