Healthy Distrust in AI systems

Fuente: arXiv
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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Paaßen, Benjamin, Alpsancar, Suzana, Matzner, Tobias, Scharlau, Ingrid
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Paaßen, Benjamin
Alpsancar, Suzana
Matzner, Tobias
Scharlau, Ingrid
author_facet Paaßen, Benjamin
Alpsancar, Suzana
Matzner, Tobias
Scharlau, Ingrid
contents Under the slogan of trustworthy AI, much of contemporary AI research is focused on designing AI systems and usage practices that inspire human trust and, thus, enhance adoption of AI systems. However, a person affected by an AI system may not be convinced by AI system design alone -- neither should they, if the AI system is embedded in a social context that gives good reason to believe that it is used in tension with a person's interest. In such cases, distrust in the system may be justified and necessary to build meaningful trust in the first place. We propose the term "healthy distrust" to describe such a justified, careful stance towards certain AI usage practices. We investigate prior notions of trust and distrust in computer science, sociology, history, psychology, and philosophy, outline a remaining gap that healthy distrust might fill and conceptualize healthy distrust as a crucial part for AI usage that respects human autonomy.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_09747
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Healthy Distrust in AI systems
Paaßen, Benjamin
Alpsancar, Suzana
Matzner, Tobias
Scharlau, Ingrid
Computers and Society
Artificial Intelligence
Under the slogan of trustworthy AI, much of contemporary AI research is focused on designing AI systems and usage practices that inspire human trust and, thus, enhance adoption of AI systems. However, a person affected by an AI system may not be convinced by AI system design alone -- neither should they, if the AI system is embedded in a social context that gives good reason to believe that it is used in tension with a person's interest. In such cases, distrust in the system may be justified and necessary to build meaningful trust in the first place. We propose the term "healthy distrust" to describe such a justified, careful stance towards certain AI usage practices. We investigate prior notions of trust and distrust in computer science, sociology, history, psychology, and philosophy, outline a remaining gap that healthy distrust might fill and conceptualize healthy distrust as a crucial part for AI usage that respects human autonomy.
title Healthy Distrust in AI systems
topic Computers and Society
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.09747