A global snapshot of trust and AI
Findings from our Global Dialogues data, which encompasses ~4,000 participants across four rounds, reveal that trust in traditional institutions is low, while confidence in AI chatbots is high.
If you are using, referencing or talking about these data, we are keen to hear from you! Please drop us a line at hi@cip.org to tell us what you think about it or what you are using it for. This helps us understand what the public wants to hear about and will inform future Global Dialogues.
1. People trust AI chatbots more than they do their own elected representatives.
Over three rounds of Global Dialogues running between March and Aug 2025, the global public consistently reported that AI could make better decisions on their behalf than their government representatives. These data are consistent with slightly more people agreeing with this statement each round.
2. The global public trust their AI chatbots but not the companies producing them.
We asked people to what extent they trust AI chatbots to act in their best interests, and to what extent they trust AI companies to do what is right. We show over three separate rounds, with ~1000 people in each, that people distinguish between trusting the AI tool and trusting its makers.
3. People trust AI chatbots more than faith or community leaders to act in their best interests.
We asked people how much they trust or distrust faith/community leaders and AI chatbots to act in their best interest. 12.45% more said they trust their AI chatbots than trust faith/community leaders. Faith/community leaders had 13.3 percentage points higher distrust than AI chatbots.
4. Public research institutions and family doctors are the only institutions or actors that people trust more than their AI chatbots.
5. Trust, Democracy, and AI.
The erosion of trust between governments & citizens poses a systemic threat to democracy's stability. We are seeing this transpire in real time, with trust shifting to corporate interfaces in the form of AI chatbots. The question we are facing now is no longer whether AI will influence our decisions, but who will control the AI that does.
Our new project, Weval, allows anyone to contribute to measuring what truly matters in human-AI relationships and beyond. We are building the tools for a new kind of governance, where public insight directly shapes the technology that is reshaping society.
Learn more about Global Dialogues and explore our findings at Globaldialogues.ai. We welcome collaboration with organizations interested in incorporating public perspectives into AI development and governance processes.
Data Appendix
Global Dialogues 3 (GD3): n=986, March 2025
Global Dialogues 4 (GD4): n=1058, May 2025
Global Dialogues 5 (GD5): n=1065, May 2025
Global Dialogues 6 (GD5): n=1032, Aug 2025
