Artificial intelligence (AI) is a hot topic in digital health, as automated systems are being adopted throughout the health care system. Because they are still flexible, emerging technologies can be shaped significantly by media representations as well as public engagement with science. In this context, we examine the belief that negative news media coverage of AI—and specifically, the alleged use of imagery from the movie Terminator—is to blame for public concerns about AI. This belief is identified as a potential barrier to meaningful engagement of AI scientists and technology developers with journalists and the broader public. We name this climate of risk perception the “Terminator Syndrome”—not because of its origins in the movie of the same name per se, but because such unchecked beliefs can terminate broad public engagement on AI before they even begin. Using both quantitative and qualitative approaches, this study examined the hypothesis that the news media coverage of AI is negative. We conducted a sentiment analysis of news data spanning over six decades, from 1956 to 2018, using the Google Cloud Natural Language API Sentiment Analysis tool. Contrary to the alleged negative sentiment in news media coverage of AI, we found that the available evidence does not support this claim. We conclude with an innovation policy-relevant discussion on the current state of AI risk perceptions, and what critical social sciences offer for responsible AI innovation in digital health, life sciences, and society.

中文翻译：

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人工智能新闻媒体的情感分析不支持对人工智能的负面偏见的主张。

人工智能（AI）是数字医疗领域的热门话题，因为整个医疗保健系统都采用了自动化系统。因为它们仍然很灵活，所以新兴技术可以通过媒体代表以及公众对科学的参与来显着塑造。在这种情况下，我们检验了以下信念，即新闻媒体对AI的负面报道，尤其是所谓的电影《终结者》中图像的使用，应归咎于公众对AI的关注。这种信念被认为是AI科学家和技术开发人员与记者和广大公众进行有意义互动的潜在障碍。我们将这种风险感知气氛称为“终结者综合症”，而不是因为其起源于同名电影本身，但是因为这种不受约束的信念甚至可以在他们开始之前就终止广泛的AI公众参与。本研究使用定量和定性方法，检验了AI的新闻媒体报道为负面的假设。我们使用Google Cloud Natural Language API情绪分析工具对从1956年到2018年的6年间的新闻数据进行了情绪分析。与AI新闻媒体报道的所谓负面情绪相反，我们发现现有证据不支持这一说法。我们以与创新政策相关的讨论作为结尾，讨论了AI风险感知的当前状态，以及关键的社会科学为数字健康，生命科学和社会中负责任的AI创新提供了哪些条件。