#trust

#trust

AI was everywhere, but I wasn't focused on product launches. I was looking at how companies think about data itself: how it's shared, governed and ultimately turned into decisions. And across conversations with executives and sessions on security and compliance, a pattern emerged: the technical limitations that once justified locking data down have largely been solved. What remains difficult is human. Alignment, trust and confidence inside organizations are now the true barriers.

Trust has fast become one of the central questions in every serious conversation about AI. Not capabilities. Not efficiency. Trust. If customers don't trust how companies deploy AI, they'll walk away. If employees don't trust it, they'll disengage. If enterprises don't trust their AI providers, they won't adopt. A recent global KPMG study found that while two-thirds of people now use AI regularly, fewer than half say they're willing to trust it.

After interviewing over 200 people for various articles, I've become hypersensitive to the subtle ways trust builds or breaks in conversation. And here's what I've discovered: we all use phrases that quietly erode trust, often multiple times a day, completely unaware of the damage we're doing to our relationships and credibility. The fascinating part? These aren't obvious lies or manipulative statements. They're everyday phrases that seem harmless but trigger our brain's ancient alarm systems, making people instinctively pull back from us.

I assume that it's intended to provide ammunition to go after disfavored faculty and/or to instill such a chill on campus that nobody would dare to say anything provocative in the first place. Whether those motivations are locally held or are meant to keep the university below the radar of certain culture warriors, I don't know. The effects are the same either way, and they're devastating to the mission of a university.

On my third date with my then-boyfriend (he's now my husband), we had sex. And like so many times before, I decided I'd fake an orgasm. But unlike so many times before, it didn't feel right. I dated a lot of men in my 20s, and faking an orgasm just felt easier and safer than telling them I had never had an orgasm with a partner before.

AI chatbots have been with us three years and one month (at least the kind that use large language models (LLMs) to communicate with natural-sounding words). Already norms are emerging in some professions for users to disclose how they use AI. For example: Organizations such as the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors created policies for disclosing AI use in scientific manuscripts.

Some people just come off as more trustworthy than others. It's hard to put it into words, but with certain people, you might find yourself spilling your guts upon first meeting, feeling a sense of safety and comfort that puts you at ease and lets you relax. Others might put you on guard in a visceral way-you don't know exactly what it is, but something about them makes your nervous system vigilant, and you start to second-guess what you tell them or how close you let them get.

"Oh, no," lamented Sarah, "Is it going to happen again?" She was responding to the possibility that her partner, Joshua, would lose his temper once again, which was a frequent occurrence. She did not trust him, and the result was anxiety, leading to sleeplessness, worry, and irritability. Research reviewed by Tomlinson and Mayer (2009) supports the view that mistrust can be accompanied by anger and fear. Joshua's temper and Sarah's response of anxiety were affecting their relationship.

We can visualize four different types of trust as directions on a compass. The different types of trust include trust in ourselves, others, reality, and a higher power than ego. Consider how we rely on trust in our daily lives and how we can grow that trust to manage life's challenges. Our trust can move in four directions: we can trust ourselves, others, reality, and a higher power.