Trust, Trustworthiness, and Assurance of AI and Autonomy

The importance of “trust” in artificial intelligence and autonomous systems (AIAS) is widely touted, but not necessarily in productive ways. This paper argues that discourse about the importance of trust can obscure more than it illuminates, misleadingly suggesting similarities (and common solutions) across fundamentally unrelated challenges. In particular, it is important to distinguish whose trust is required, and whether that trust is subjective or objective. The paper also pushes back against the idea that trust can be “built in” as a property of the AIAS.