I hope we don't do to trust what advertising has done to love

TL;DR

The paper critically examines the concept of trust in AI, proposing measurable 'trust pillars' and exploring how agentic systems can serve as explicit trust vectors to foster better understanding and dialogue.

Contribution

It introduces the idea of 'trust pillars' for AI and suggests that agentic systems' interfaces can be used to represent trust explicitly.

Findings

Proposes measurable 'trust pillars' for AI.

Suggests agentic systems can act as 'trust vectors'.

Calls for a communal conversation on trust in AI.

Abstract

Advertising uses love to sell stuff, like nylons. It also uses the word "love" in trivialising ways -- do you "love" your oven? When I hear about trust in the context of AI, especially agentic, I hope we don't do to trust what advertising has done to love. But what is trust? Can we discuss it in actionable and measurable ways in the context of AI? Thus I suggest a number of "trust pillars", hoping to start a communal conversation, across computing and beyond, to civil society. I also suggest that agentic systems may be a blessing in disguise, as we may be able to turn their explicit interfaces into "trust vectors".