You’ve gotta hand it to corporate America’s leaders: They’re an optimistic bunch.
About nine out of 10 U.S. business executives think consumers and employees highly trust their companies. But the truth isn’t so rosy.
Just 30% of American consumers feel that way, according to PwC’s 2024 Trust Survey. At 67%, employees are more trusting, but the gap for both groups has grown in the past few years. One recent factor is—you guessed it—AI, which isn’t exactly winning hearts and minds these days.
What’s up? For some insight, I chatted with Wes Bricker, vice chair, U.S. trust solutions coleader at PwC.
Most business leaders agree that earning trust is good for the bottom line, the survey shows. But it’s getting tougher to pull off, Bricker says. “The challenges to building trust are at a greater frequency and a greater scale than in prior years.” At the top of executives’ list: inability to change supply-chain processes and materials due to cost, lack of clear ownership of trust among leaders, and lack of clarity on what stakeholders want.
“That really requires business leaders to understand who’s accountable,” Bricker says. “Are we on top of it, are we measuring it, and are we demonstrating actions against the need?”
With AI, the trust rift is pronounced. Part of the solution is crafting a responsible AI strategy and establishing guardrails around its use. But according to the PwC survey, only 40% of businesses have a company-wide plan.
At the same time, just a third of executives surveyed say their company discloses its AI governance framework. That isn’t good enough for workers and consumers, about two-thirds of whom want transparency.
But their big worry is data privacy policies. While roughly nine out of 10 consumers and employees say it’s important for businesses to disclose them, only about 30% of leaders say their company does so. Meanwhile, alarm bells around privacy and data security risks keep ringing, with some firms banning generative AI altogether.
Businesses must address data privacy concerns by ensuring that workers and consumers understand how their information might be used, Bricker says. But that’s only half the battle.
On the governance side, executives need to understand the AI their organization is using.
“Can they explain the nature of the model?” Bricker asks. “And as they incorporate the output of the model—maybe it’s for pricing, maybe it’s for operational decisions—are they using it with the right oversight and controls, to make sure that the use of a generative AI application is actually fulfilling the intended purpose?”
The next step: sharing all of that with stakeholders in plain English.
Bricker sees a window of opportunity for executives to build trust in AI. “Businesses and business leaders have the first move here,” he says, “in proving it through transparency, proving it through their actions.”
He’s also confident that things will improve. “As customers and employees continue to build trust, it will occur as AI continues to be incorporated into businesses, customer experience, and employee experience.”
For workers, AI offers the chance to be more productive and focus on higher-level skills by handing over routine tasks to the technology, Bricker notes. “Not fearing it but embracing it.”
Color me cautiously optimistic.
Nick Rockel
nick.rockel@consultant.fortune.com
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“Sadly, some whistleblowers face intimidation that makes them fear for their physical safety. I have heard stories of people feeling that they are being followed, as well as whistleblowers who face online harassment, serious threats, and damaging claims. To counteract this, people install security cameras at their homes, conduct cybersecurity audits to ensure their devices and locations are not being tracked, file police reports, receive orders of protection from harassers, or sometimes even move cities if possible.”
Former Boeing quality manager John Barnett was recently founded dead of an apparent suicide, soon after testifying about production problems at the troubled aircraft maker. Whistleblowers like Barnett need better protection, Ariella Steinhorn maintains.
To help those people trust that they’re doing the right thing, financial compensation like the Department of Justice’s new whistleblower reward pilot program is one incentive. Companies also have a role to play, by sharing stories of positive business changes prompted by whistleblowing, which not only shows employees that they matter but also protects shareholders. And for whistleblowers and their families, providing psychotherapy could be a matter of life and death.
