  Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is a widely popular technology that
will have a profound impact on society and individuals. Less than a decade ago,
it was thought that creative work would be among the last to be automated - yet
today, we see AI encroaching on many creative domains. In this paper, we
present the findings of a survey study on people's perceptions of text-to-image
generation. We touch on participants' technical understanding of the emerging
technology, their fears and concerns, and thoughts about risks and dangers of
text-to-image generation to the individual and society. We find that while
participants were aware of the risks and dangers associated with the
technology, only few participants considered the technology to be a personal
risk. The risks for others were more easy to recognize for participants.
Artists were particularly seen at risk. Interestingly, participants who had
tried the technology rated its future importance lower than those who had not
tried it. This result shows that many people are still oblivious of the
potential personal risks of generative artificial intelligence and the
impending societal changes associated with this technology.
