Trust. I lost count of how many times I heard that word this week at the IMN Mortgage AI…

Trust. I lost count of how many times I heard that word this week at the IMN Mortgage AI Forum.

"You have to trust the AI" "You have to trust the outcome"

IMO, it goes much deeper than that...

Organizations hire people. People thrive on relationships. Relationships require trust to grow and evolve.

Someone once shared Harvard Business School professor Frances Frei’s TED talk on trust. I can’t remember who it was, but the talk stuck. And when I got home from the conference, I watched it again.

Frei’s premise is simple. Trust rests on three things: empathy, logic, and authenticity. When any one of them wobbles, trust is in jeopardy. And the one that wobbles most often? Empathy.

Now add AI to the equation.

- Empathy: Is there still a human who understands the borrower, the employee, the person on the other side? - Logic: Can you explain how the model reached its decision? - Authenticity: Are you transparent about where and how AI is being used?

In this new world of human + artificial intelligence, trust is the linchpin that holds it all together. Technology can strengthen the logic. But empathy and authenticity? That's all us!

So which side of the triangle is your organization strongest on, and which one is wobbling?

And if you want to watch the whole TED Talk, the link is in the first comment.