Ahead of the World Economic Forum gathering at Davos this past week, communications firm Edelman released its annual Trust Barometer, showcasing once again that businesses are the most trusted institutions out there, polling ahead of NGOs, government, and the media.
According to Edelman’s metrics, 63% of the public trust businesses to do “what is right.” Compare that with 59% who trust NGOs, 51% who trust the government, and 50% who trust the media. But when respondents are asked to rank their level of trust in each institution on more specific challenges, doubt creeps in.
When respondents are asked which institution they trust to manage the integration of innovative tech with society, none are truly “trusted.” Businesses still lead the pack, cinching a 59% score, but fall just short of the 60% threshold Edelman deems truly “trusted.” NGOs (54%) and government (50%) occupy the same gray space of “neutral” public sentiment while the media (48%) languishes in the zone of “distrust.”
“To me, the massive takeaway is that the implementation of an innovation is as crucial as the invention or the introduction of it,” says Tonia Ries, executive director of intellectual property for the Edelman Trust Institute. “When innovation is poorly managed, people feel a sense of fear and anxiety that they’re going to be left behind.”
With AI on everyone’s minds at Davos, the year ahead will certainly be a proving ground for how successfully that tech is implemented in society.
Ries thinks that leaders in the AI space have thus far done a good job at introducing the public to the new tools, releasing products like ChatGPT to public use in its early stages, and being (decreasingly) transparent about its development. But now that AI has been introduced, how can businesses succeed in managing its integration?
Well, they’re going to need help. Edelman’s research shows that although businesses are the most trusted collectives, they aren’t the most trusted entities. The public trusts scientists and their own peers (74%) much more than CEOs (51%), journalists (47%), or government leaders (45%) when it comes to informing them about innovations.
Ries says that part of why scientists and peers are the most trusted individuals is that they are perceived as relatively independent. Despite the survey also showing that the public worries science is becoming politicized, “people still believe in the idea that scientists do generally serve a higher truth that is independent of money or politics,” Ries says.
The perception of a virtuous scientist creates a quandary for businesses looking to convince a skeptical public that innovation is good for them. Businesses need to leverage the voices of scientists to earn the public’s trust, but by partnering with them, corporations threaten to taint the independence that makes experts trustworthy in the first place.
Case in point: Edelman shows that scientists have a 74% trust rating, but “company technical experts”—many of whom are qualified scientists—are only at 66%.
“Elevating expert voices is key,” Ries says. “Doing it in a way that makes it clear that you value them for their expertise, not because they have your logo on their shirt sleeve, is part of making sure that those scientists and those expert voices are credible and seen as authentic.”
Ensuring the public understands the ins and outs of new technology and isn’t inundated with jargon or technical speech is also vital to building trust, as is making the public feel that their views on the tech-society interface are being heard. Most importantly, success won’t be achieved by one group alone. It will require a collective effort of experts, regulators, and businesses to get it done.
But as a journalist (47%), don’t take my word for it. You can read the full report here.
Eamon Barrett
eamon.barrett@fortune.com
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