How AI reveals what people truly want for the future of society.

When you ask people how they imagine the future of society, the answers fall into a remarkably stable pattern. Most people wish for a better society. A smaller group prefers a society that stays the same. And a very small group expects — or even desires — a worse society, often out of fear, resignation, or a need for control. These three orientations appear consistently across surveys, regardless of age, background, or political identity. But understanding why people fall into these groups is far more complex.

This is where artificial intelligence becomes more than a technical tool. It becomes a sociological instrument. AI can not only pose the question — it can empirically answer it. It can detect patterns that humans rarely articulate, and it can reveal connections that traditional surveys often miss. To explore this, I used AI directly: I asked it to help me design a questionnaire capable of measuring whether people want a better, the same, or a worse society.

The process began with a simple prompt: “Can you design a questionnaire to ask people whether they want a better world, the same world, or a worse world?” The AI responded immediately with a structured, sociologically grounded questionnaire.

Focusing on the real world.

When I refined my request — “Too complicated with free‑text answers, I need direct questions.” — the AI adapted the instrument, removing open fields and focusing on measurable, neutral items.

Then I added: “Yes, but with sociological derivation questions — like whether they feel comfortable with electric cars or similar topics.”

The AI understood the deeper point: people do not imagine the future in abstract terms. They imagine it through concrete societal domains — technology, media, finance, health, and research regulation. It generated questions that captured these domains and made future expectations measurable.

To test the instrument, I asked, “Could you do me a favor and fill out the questionnaire once?” The AI produced a complete set of answers. They were not emotional, but structural. It evaluated electric cars, media trust, research, regulation, and automation based on the logic of the questions, not on personal preference. This made the underlying patterns visible: people who view technology positively tend to expect a better society. People who trust traditional media often prefer a stable, unchanged society. And people who fear automation or information chaos are more likely to anticipate a worse future.

Media turned out to be one of the strongest predictors. When I wrote, “More about media, please.” the AI expanded the media section and explained why media trust is essentially future trust. People who see media as stabilizing institutions tend to believe in a positive future. Those who see media as sources of division or manipulation tend to expect decline. AI detects these relationships not through guesswork, but through linguistic patterns, answer structures, and recurring themes across thousands of responses.

Just assisting.

The entire process shows how easily AI can be used as a sociological assistant. You can simply ask: “Ask the AI about its sociological understanding and let it develop questions about the future.” And it will do exactly that — clearly, neutrally, and with methodological precision. It helps formulate questions, identify dimensions, and interpret answer patterns. It does not replace human thinking; it reveals it.

At this point, René Descartes becomes unexpectedly relevant. His famous line — Cogito ergo sum, I think, therefore I am — was meant to define the essence of human existence. But AI forces us to reinterpret it. AI “thinks” in a functional sense, but it does not exist in the philosophical sense. It evaluates without feeling. Furthermore, it has no future of its own, yet it can illuminate the futures imagined by others.

Technology inspires when it helps us understand ourselves. AI does exactly that. It shows why most people wish for a better society, why some prefer stability, and why a few expect decline. It reveals how media shape our expectations, how technology influences our hopes, and how research, health, and economics define our fears. And it shows that sometimes, all you need to uncover these insights is a handful of prompts.

Featured image comes from pexels.