PwC and Salesforce Alliance

The AI trust gap: the need for speed versus the psychology of risk

Insight
September 10, 2024

“Rebuilding trust” was the theme of the 54th World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and much of the discussion there and beyond continues to focus on senior leaders’ role in balancing the risks and rewards of AI's impact and potential on their organizations.

In this paper, we take a unique look at how behavioral economics can help us understand how executives make decisions about AI, examining the psychological factors that affect human choices, such as cognitive biases, loss aversion, herding behavior, and overconfidence. These factors can influence how leaders perceive and adopt AI, and how they balance short-term and long-term outcomes:

What senior leaders should consider, from the CEO to the CISO
Viewing AI from a risk vs a trust mindset
The link between trust and speed
Proposed prompts to facilitate leadership incubation sessions

Success with AI is not only about technology, but also about transparency and governance. To launch and scale responsible AI strategies, leaders need to be aware of their own biases, seek diverse perspectives, and ensure transparency in AI implementation across a broad group of stakeholders and users.