Debate on the responsibility of tech companies in the era of generative AI: the challenges of trust and security

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has asked for our “patience and goodwill” as they strive to “do things right.” It’s time for Silicon Valley to adopt an alternative approach to earn our trust, an approach that has proven successful in the American legal system: procedural justice. Based on social psychology, procedural justice relies on studies showing that individuals perceive institutions and actors as more trustworthy and legitimate when they are listened to and subject to neutral, impartial, and transparent decisions.

The Four Essential Elements of Procedural Justice

• Neutrality: decisions are impartial and guided by clear reasoning.
• Respect: everyone is treated with respect and dignity.
• Voice: everyone has the opportunity to share their experience.
• Trustworthiness: decision-makers convey credible motivations concerning those affected by their decisions.

AI companies can adapt this framework to strengthen trust and legitimacy by engaging multidisciplinary teams, allowing individuals to participate in the decision-making process, and ensuring transparency in all security rules and procedures.

Read also: Meta Introduces AI Processors and Supercomputer to Boost Artificial Intelligence Research

“Society, I think, has a limited amount of time to figure out how to react to this, how to regulate it, how to manage it.” – Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI

By adopting a procedural justice approach, rather than the opacity and blind trust of technological predecessors, companies designing AI platforms can involve society in the process and earn – not demand – trust and legitimacy.