关键词: AI, 数字安全, 数字鸿沟, 数字素养

Abstract:

[Purpose/Significance] The new round of technological revolutions and industrial transformations are deeply integrated, and digital technologies, especially those represented by generative artificial intelligence (AI), are advancing rapidly. While empowering high-quality economic and social development, they have also triggered a series of prominent issues related to technological ethics and digital security. Digital security has become an unavoidable core issue in the global digitalization process. In comparison, the "amplification" effect brought by China's over 1.1 billion Internet users has made the impact of digital security more extensive and profound, making it a core element related to national security, economic and social development, and citizens' legitimate rights and interests. The threats to digital security in the era of AI are more complex and diverse. To effectively guide and support residents in facing the challenges of the AI era, it is necessary to grasp the current status of residents' digital security level and the digital divide between different groups. Compared with existing research, this study mainly supplements the research gap in the empirical investigation of residents' perception level of digital security (including AI security). Based on this, conducting a survey of residents' perceptions of digital security and proposing corresponding countermeasures would help us understand the current status of digital security among residents, bridge the new digital divide, and promote classified digital security education measures. It will be important for further strengthening the digital security barrier, safeguarding personal information security, ensuring social stability, and maintaining national security. [Method/Process] Focusing on the research objectives and core themes, this study refers to the "Global Digital Literacy Framework" developed by UNESCO, draws on existing domestic research findings on digital literacy evaluation, integrates its digital security assessment indicators and designs, and combines the characteristics of new digital security risks in the AI era to design a localized digital security awareness survey questionnaire. Through online questionnaire surveys and variance testing methods, a case study was conducted among a total of 2 000 residents from the eastern, central, and western regions of China. The research data cover the demographic attributes of the respondents, basic digital security capabilities, digital device protection, and privacy protection indicators, while also incorporating multi-dimensional assessment indicators for digital health protection and AI security, to empirically assess the level of residents' digital security and the current status of digital divide among different groups. [Results/Conclusions] The research results indicate that residents' perception of digital security is not high overall. The basic digital security capability dimension performed relatively well. The digital health protection and artificial intelligence security dimensions performed better than the digital device protection and privacy protection dimensions, which scored the lowest. Residents recognize the importance of digital security in the era of AI and possess a certain level of digital security knowledge, but there is still considerable room for improvement in practical application of digital devices and personal privacy protection capabilities. Influenced by factors such as age, registered residence, education level, occupation, income, and device usage duration, there are significant differences in residents' digital security perception levels, especially among rural residents and the elderly, who are in urgent need of improvement. Based on the research results, the following suggestions are proposed. We should improve the digital literacy education system to ensure lifelong learning of residents' digital security capabilities. Efforts should be paid attention to the digital security rights and interests of the elderly population and enhance digital security inclusiveness. We should promote extensive collaboration among diverse social entities to enhance the digital security perception level of rural residents, and further promote monthly improvement activities to build a solid digital security barrier. This study focuses on empirical investigation and analysis in the field of residents' digital security, and proposes targeted coping strategies based on the research results, demonstrating a certain degree of innovation. However, this study has certain limitations due to its reliance on literature analysis and online surveys, as well as its relatively limited sample selection. Future studies could more comprehensively and deeply explore residents' digital security capabilities by expanding the survey sample, combining offline field research, or adopting a multidimensional stratified sampling framework. This would provide more universally applicable practical references for enhancing residents' digital security capabilities and further bridging the digital divide.

Key words: artificial intelligence, digital security, digital gap, digital literacy