3 ways leaders can improve AI trust

AI is driving innovation and productivity in the workplace. According to the ServiceNow Enterprise AI Maturity Index 2025, 82% of companies expect to increase AI investment over the next year. But business leaders must build trust among employees and customers to drive that adoption and innovation.

Businesses that can’t bridge the AI trust gap risk falling behind in AI adoption. Trust is built on a combination of ethical implementation, clear governance, and top-down accountability.

Heightened concerns about privacy, security, and regulations can undermine AI trust. As agentic AI becomes more common in the workplace, building trust is more important than ever. Here are three ways leaders can improve AI trust.

1. Keep up with regulations

AI can add value to organisations by providing faster resolution times, higher customer satisfaction, and reduced operational costs. IDC predicts that half of organisations will use enterprise AI agents by the end of this year.¹

At the same time, regulations are tightening. Executive bodies are developing frameworks to govern responsible AI use, such as the EU AI Act. These regulations can help increase trust among the general public, as well as within companies.

By demonstrating a commitment to compliance with AI regulations, leaders can build confidence, mitigate risks, and help ensure responsible integration of AI for customers and employees.

2. Prioritise transparency

AI is only as good as the data it’s built on. Organisations that feed AI with biased data get biased results, which can erode confidence. A foundation of clean, reliable, well-managed data helps ensure the outcomes users get from AI are accurate—and can improve AI trust.

Clear communication about how data is used and how decisions are made by AI can build trust with internal users and external customers.

3. Address oversight concerns

The rise of AI has led to concerns about security, data privacy, and risk of inadequate oversight. Confidence is slowly growing. According to the ServiceNow Consumer Voice Report 2025, only 6% of consumers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) trust AI to handle a suspicious transaction. One-third of survey respondents say they’d trust AI in the same scenario in the next three years.

Business leaders can help build AI trust by pairing the speed of AI with the empathy of human insight to deliver high-quality AI-powered experiences.

Trust is a must for success

AI can transform businesses and solve real-world challenges.

For example, a utility provider in the Middle East is using AI agents to automate billing disputes by analysing historical consumption data. The agents can recommend solutions and trigger downstream actions to deliver faster resolution times, greater customer satisfaction, and reduced operational costs.

Exciting new use cases for AI are emerging. Organisations that have gained customer and employee trust will benefit the most.

Find out how ServiceNow can help your organisation put AI to work responsibly.

¹ IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Artificial Intelligence and Automation 2025 Predictions, #US51666724, October 2024