AI won’t succeed without trust, and that trust must be earned on the frontlines.

A compelling Harvard Business Review article titled “Workers Don’t Trust AI. Here’s How Companies Can Change That” explores the growing trust deficit between organizations and their employees when it comes to AI adoption — and what leaders can do to bridge it.

While many companies are investing heavily in AI, frontline workers remain skeptical. In fact, according to Deloitte’s TrustID Index, trust in employer-provided generative AI dropped by 31% in just two months, and trust in agentic AI (AI that acts independently) fell by a staggering 89%. What’s more alarming is that employees are increasingly turning to unapproved shadow tools — not because they distrust AI itself, but because they don’t trust how their companies are implementing it.

🔍 Understanding the Roots of Distrust

• Imposed, not co-created: Many workers see AI tools as mandates rather than collaborative solutions, fueling resistance.
• Job insecurity: There's a widespread fear that adopting AI means enabling their own replacement.
• Lack of transparency: Employees often don’t understand how AI tools make decisions or how they will be impacted by them.

🏗️ Five Actions to Rebuild Trust

1. Measure Trust: Use frameworks like the TrustID Index to quantify and track the four pillars of trust—reliability, capability, transparency, and humanity. These metrics can guide targeted improvements.
2. Grow Skills: Invest in AI literacy, technical upskilling, and emotional intelligence. Companies like IKEA have reskilled thousands, boosting engagement and productivity.
3. Co-Create with Workers: Empower employees to participate in AI design. Walmart’s AI initiatives are shaped through real feedback from associates, leading to practical, trustworthy solutions.
4. Encourage Experimentation: Create low-risk environments where workers can test AI tools. At Colgate-Palmolive, this has led to thousands of grassroots AI assistants solving real operational problems.
5. Empower Team Leaders: Train managers to communicate clearly, model usage, and lead trust-building efforts from within teams. Intuit’s hands-on workshops with frontline tax experts demonstrate the power of peer-driven momentum.

🌟 Takeaways and Inspiration

This article reminds us that AI adoption isn’t just a technical rollout — it’s a cultural transformation. Success depends on how well organizations bring their people along for the journey. That means creating environments where trust is built through transparency, agency, and shared purpose.

When employees are engaged, trained, and given ownership, AI becomes an ally — not a threat. And when trust rises, so does impact: higher productivity, stronger retention, and more meaningful innovation.

Because at the heart of every AI implementation is a human — and humans need to believe before they can fully engage.

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