High school students split into four belief profiles about artificial general intelligence

Most high school students remain undecided about whether machines will ever think like humans, according to a new study of 658 adolescents that identified four distinct belief profiles about artificial general intelligence, or AGI. The research, published in BMC Psychology, examined how teenagers conceptualize AGI and how those conceptualizations relate to psychological and demographic characteristics.

The study focused on two core beliefs: whether AI will achieve a level of human thinking, and whether emotions will guide it if it does. Using latent profile analysis, a statistical technique that groups people based on their response patterns, the researchers sorted participants into four profiles. The largest group, called “AGI Uncertain,” made up 49.1 percent of students and held balanced, undecided views on both questions.

The three remaining groups held more definite positions. “AGI Futurists,” at 16.3 percent, believed AI will reach human-level thinking and be guided by emotions. “AGI Functionalists,” at 14.4 percent, believed AI will reach the level of human thinking but will not be guided by emotions. “AGI Sceptics,” at 20.2 percent, believed AI will neither achieve human-level thinking nor be guided by emotions.

The four profiles differed across a wide range of psychological and demographic variables. These included gender, intellect, cynical hostility towards humans, the values of tradition and benevolence, the emotions of guilt, sadness and affection, parental expectations, cynical hostility towards AI, and beliefs about how quickly AI will achieve human-level thinking.

The findings build on earlier research showing that people hold mixed feelings about AI and that beliefs about AI are associated with specific attitudes towards it. As AI becomes increasingly central to technological progress and a more prominent part of everyday life, the authors argue that understanding attitudes toward it is vital.

The study’s conclusions underscore the importance of integrating psychological, emotional, and value-based variables to better understand how individuals relate to intelligent technologies. Rather than treating attitudes toward AGI as a single dimension, the profile approach suggests that adolescents’ views cluster into qualitatively different combinations of beliefs about machine intelligence and emotion.

The research was conducted by Oliwia Kosecka, Stanisław Konrad Czerwiński, Wiktor Kornel Wróbel and Paweł Andrzej Atroszko, and published as an open access article in BMC Psychology on 3 November 2026. The article was shared early to provide faster access to peer-reviewed, accepted research, with a version subject to further edits before the final Version of Record.

Because the study measured beliefs at a single point in time among high school students, the findings describe associations between belief profiles and psychological and demographic characteristics rather than causal effects. The distal associations reported in the study link the profiles to variables such as cynical hostility, values and emotions, but the cross-sectional design cannot establish the direction of these relationships.

Subject of Research: Latent profiles of beliefs about artificial general intelligence among high school students and their psychological and demographic correlates

Article Title: Psychological and demographic correlates and distal associations of latent profiles of beliefs about artificial​ general intelligence in high school students

Article References: Kosecka, O., Czerwiński, S. K., Wróbel, W. K., & Atroszko, P. A. (2026). Psychological and demographic correlates and distal associations of latent profiles of beliefs about artificial​ general intelligence in high school students. BMC Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-026-05912-5

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s40359-026-05912-5

Keywords: artificial general intelligence, high school students, latent profile analysis, beliefs about AI, psychological correlates, demographic correlates, AGI Futurists, AGI Sceptics, BMC Psychology, adolescent attitudes, Psychological, demographic