The study was carried out in 17 countries and reveals that there are geographical differences: for example, the United Kingdom has the lowest number (52%) when it comes to knowledge of Generative AI tools.
The majority of respondents (68%) who are familiar with GenAI have already used at least one of these tools, 74% for personal reasons. On the other hand, around 40% said they had used these tools for professional reasons and 31% for educational reasons. The study concludes that more than half (56%) of the Portuguese believe that Generative Artificial Intelligence will reduce the number of jobs available in the future, with 47% admitting to being concerned that, in the future, some of their functions in the workplace will be absorbed by Generative Artificial Intelligence.
Among the professionals who say they have already used this booming technology, 28% believe that their employer would agree to the use of these tools. Two out of five (40%) users say they would be willing to pay for a Generative Artificial Intelligence tool to be able to provide faster answers and be more available for tasks that require a human hand.
According to Pedro Tavares, Partner at Deloitte, "technological advances are happening at an ever-increasing speed, and consumers are keeping up with this change. One example is generative artificial intelligence. However, although the data shows that some consumers have lost interest after its initial explosion, the transformative potential of this innovation continues to be a cause for enthusiasm, but also some concern," he adds.
Use of technological devices continues to increase
Another of the study's conclusions relates to the use of technological devices, which has increased since last year, with wearables - devices similar to clothing or accessories, such as watches, bracelets or even virtual reality glasses - growing in popularity: 38% of Portuguese have a smart watch, and 25% have a fitness bracelet; and 77% of these monitor their health on their devices. Within this group, the majority of respondents (78%) would feel comfortable giving access to monitored health data to their doctor. Monitoring steps continues to be the most popular activity recorded on these devices: 62% of respondents say they do this, followed by monitoring heart rate (42%), type/amount of exercise (36%) and sleep patterns (35%).
Less surprisingly given the popularity of these devices, access to smartphones has also increased by one percentage point since last year: 95% of Portuguese between the ages of 18 and 65 have a smartphone. The second most common digital device is the laptop, with 87% of Portuguese claiming to have one.
The Portuguese also show some enthusiasm for digital identity solutions, with a considerable percentage saying they would like to be able to use their smartphone to access their identity card data (45%) or their driving license (42%). And almost half (48%) use their smartphone or smartwatch to make payments, a percentage that is growing among users of Apple (60%).
However, when asked about the possibility of sharing their personal data with the authorities, few are in favor. Only 28% would be willing to provide access to their browsing history; 30% would be willing to give access to a digital record of their face; and 34% to the location of their mobile phone, even if this meant more effective protection against fraud. Compared to the study carried out in the UK, the Portuguese are more shy: 33% of participants in the UK are willing to give access to their browsing history; 39% to a digital record of their face; and 41% to the location of their device.
The study also indicates that the aspect that the Portuguese value most when buying a new mobile phone - apart from price - is storage capacity (38%), followed by processor speed (36%), camera features (30%) and battery life follows closely behind (29%). Three out of four respondents (78%) say they try to repair broken devices before buying a new one. On the other hand, and given the environmental impact of electronic devices, only 23% have regular conversations with family or friends about the carbon emissions of different activities, and more than half (58%) have no idea what their carbon footprint is.
Streaming is still one of the preferred services
More than half of the Portuguese (57%) have access to a paid video streaming service and 32% have access to a paid music streaming service. The most popular video streaming service is Netflix, with 41% of respondents using this service. However, the popularity of this platform has fallen in Portugal: this figure represents a drop of 12 percentage points compared to the last edition of the study, which may be related to Netflix's attempt to eliminate password sharing.
In this vein, almost one in four respondents (23%) canceled a paid subscription to a video subscription service in the last 12 months, with the fact that the subscription was too expensive being the main reason for cancellation (23%).
39% of respondents also claim to have seen information presented as true on social media, but which was later proven to be false, commonly referred to as "fake news", with greater regularity in the last 12 months. Another 24% say they have seen this type of situation with the same level of regularity.
Almost half of smartphone users (48%) have a 5G network on their mobile phone, with 3 out of 5 (60%) saying that their mobile internet experience on 5G is better than on 4G. On the other hand, 3 out of 4 respondents (75%) have a fixed broadband internet connection at home and the majority have it connected to a TV bundle (77%) or a landline (66%). The majority (74%) say they are satisfied with their home internet connection. On the other hand, 54% have changed their home internet service in the last 12 months and 14% have changed provider in the last 12 months.
The study, which globally interviewed 27,150 consumers from 17 countries on three continents, was also conducted with 1,000 Portuguese consumers.
creativeMAGdesign