Earning Digital Trust: Decision-Making for Trustworthy Technologies

Digital trust is the expectation by individuals that digital technologies and services – and the organizations providing them – will protect all stakeholders’ interests and uphold societal expectations and values.

Failures related to digital technologies, from artificial intelligence to connected devices, from the security of personal information to algorithmic predictions, have eroded confidence at an unprecedented scale and rate. Surveys have also registered a decrease in trust in science and technology – a trust gap that is growing year on year, just as reliance on digital networks and technologies is accelerating.

To reverse this alarming trend, the World Economic Forum convened representatives of the world’s largest tech and consumer-focused companies alongside government representatives and leading consumer advocates to create a framework for companies to commit to earning digital trust.

The Forum’s digital trust framework shows for the first time how leadership commitment to cybersecurity, privacy, transparency, redressability, auditability, fairness, interoperability and safety can improve both citizen and consumer trust in technology and the companies that create and use new technologies. The Forum’s report provides both a framework and a roadmap for how to become more trustworthy in the use and development of technology.