Future of the Internet

Key quotes from a Pew Research Center canvassing of experts about the effect of technology on democracy.

About half the experts we canvassed predict humans' use of technology will weaken democracy by 2030, while a third expect technology will strengthen it as reformers fight back against democracy's foes.

Majorities of U.S. adults believe their personal data is less secure now, that data collection poses more risks than benefits, and that it is not possible to go through daily life without being tracked.

In 1969, a team of UCLA graduate students led by professor Leonard Kleinrock connected computer-to-computer with a team at the Stanford Research Institute. It was the first host-to-host communication of ARPANET, the early packet-switching network that was the precursor to today’s multibillion-host internet. Heading into the network’s 50th anniversary, Pew Research Center and Elon University’s […]

Fifty years after the first computer network was connected, most experts say digital life will mostly change things for the better in coming decades. But they say this will require reforms toward better cooperation and security, basic rights and economic fairness.

Machine vision tools like facial recognition are increasingly being used for law enforcement, advertising, and other purposes. Pew Research Center itself recently used a machine vision system to measure the prevalence of men and women in online image search results. This kind of system develops its own rules for identifying men and women after seeing […]

Pew Research Center released several reports in 2018 that explored the role and meaning of algorithms in people’s lives today.

Experts say the rise of artificial intelligence will make most people better off over the next decade, but many have concerns about how advances in AI will affect what it means to be human, to be productive and to exercise free will.

Stories from experts about the impact of digital life, from @pewresearch and @ImagineInternet.

U.S. adults are mostly against government action that could limit people’s ability to access and publish information online. There is more support for steps by technology companies.