Over 50% of Europeans want to replace lawmakers with AI

Researchers at IE University’s Center for the Governance of Change found that 51% of Europeans would favour reducing the number of national parliamentarians and giving the seats to artificial intelligence.

The study, which canvassed 2,769 people from 11 countries worldwide, found that more than half of Europeans would like to see some of their members of parliament replaced by algorithms that would access their data.

Oscar Jonsson, academic director at IE University’s Center for the Governance of Change, told CNBC that there’s been a "decades long decline of belief in democracy as a form of governance."

"Everyone’s perception is that politics is getting worse and obviously politicians are being blamed so I think it (the report) captures the general zeitgeist," Jonsson said.

Spain was the country where the idea was most popularity with 66% of those surveyed supporting the move.

On the other hand, in the UK, 69% of people surveyed were against the idea, while 56% were against it in the Netherlands and 54% in Germany.

Opinions also varied dramatically by generation, with younger people found to be significantly more open to the idea.