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Trust Research (Edelman)

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Credibility Rating

3/5
Good(3)

Good quality. Reputable source with community review or editorial standards, but less rigorous than peer-reviewed venues.

Rating inherited from publication venue: Edelman

Useful background resource for understanding the social and epistemic environment in which AI systems are deployed; declining institutional trust creates challenges for AI governance, public communication about AI risks, and acceptance of safety-oriented regulations.

Metadata

Importance: 38/100organizational reportdataset

Summary

The Edelman Trust Barometer is an annual global survey measuring public trust in institutions including government, media, business, and NGOs across dozens of countries. It tracks trends in institutional credibility, epistemic authority, and social cohesion over time. The research provides empirical grounding for understanding erosion of trust in expert institutions, which is relevant to AI governance and public acceptance of AI systems.

Key Points

  • Annual survey of ~36,000 respondents across 28+ countries measuring trust in four institutions: government, media, business, and NGOs
  • Consistently documents declining trust in traditional authorities and rising 'infodemic' concerns, with implications for how AI information is received
  • Tracks the gap between 'informed public' and general population trust levels, relevant to elite vs. mass perception of AI risk
  • Data shows business and technology sectors often retain higher trust than government/media, affecting AI governance dynamics
  • Longitudinal data since 2001 enables analysis of trust erosion trends that shape the environment for AI deployment and regulation

Cited by 2 pages

PageTypeQuality
Trust Cascade Failure ModelAnalysis58.0
AI Trust Cascade FailureRisk55.0
Resource ID: 93f06fb972e69515 | Stable ID: MjY4ZTY5MW