Funders and policymakers shaping AI’s role in Illinois needed state-level evidence on how residents view AI and data centers.

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools and the data centers that power them are growing quickly in Illinois, with effects on workplaces, schools, and communities. Legislators, employers, and advocates making decisions about these technologies need to know how residents experience these changes in their daily lives, what oversight they expect, and how they view new infrastructure close to home.

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation sought a clear, statewide picture of these views to inform its Technology in the Public Interest portfolio. The Foundation needed to understand residents’ support for AI regulation, their trust in the institutions that could oversee it, their views of data center development, and how they expect AI to affect workers, students, and parents. The Foundation asked NORC to provide a representative portrait of residents’ views on these issues.

NORC surveyed 1,200 Illinois adults in English and Spanish, by web and phone, with results weighted to represent the state.

We designed and conducted a survey of Illinois adults ages 18 and older. To reach residents across the state, we offered the survey in English and Spanish, online and by telephone. The sample combined 800 interviews from our AmeriSpeak^® panel with 400 interviews from a third-party opt-in sample. We calibrated statistical weights to Census benchmarks, adjusting for selection probabilities and nonresponse, so the data support reliable estimates for the state’s adult population.

The 10-minute questionnaire covered AI use, views on government and institutional oversight, local effects of data centers, how workers are adapting to AI, and children’s exposure to AI in schools. We worked with the Foundation to translate its priorities into survey questions, keeping the instrument short enough to limit respondent burden, while still giving each topic adequate depth. We documented the survey’s methods to the disclosure standards of the AAPOR Transparency Initiative, so others can see exactly how the data were collected and weighted.

NORC delivered custom banner tables, an annotated questionnaire with weighted frequencies, a methods report, and a summary of findings designed to support both the Foundation’s internal planning and public sharing of results.