Amongst a Multitude of Algorithms: How Distrust Transfers Between Social and Technical Trust Referents in the AI-Driven Organization

Paper in proceeding, 2024

Although trust is identified as critical for successfully integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into organizations, we know little about trust in AI within the organizational context and even less about distrust in AI. Drawing from a longitudinal case study, in which we follow a data analytics team within an organization striving to become AI-driven, this paper reveals how distrust in AI unfolds in an organizational setting shaped by several distrust dynamics. We present three significant insights. First, distrust in AI is situated and involves both social and technical trust referents. Second, distrust is misattributed when a trust referent is rendered partly invisible to the trustor. Finally, distrust can be transferred between social and technical trust referents. We contribute to the growing literature on integrating AI in organizations by presenting a model of distrust transference activated by social and technical trust referents.