Trust in the era of AI, fake news and permacrisis – do we actually know how it works?
What happens in the brain when we (don’t) trust, everyone talks about trust but what is it really?
What does “trust me” mean? Why, in the age of AI, fake news and alienation, do we need to define trust?
Everyone talks about trust. In interviews, on panels, in strategies. Trust as a buzzword, trust as a KPI, trust as a long-term currency. In recent months, reading interviews on Media Marketing and Woman.Comm, I have almost not come across a conversation in which this concept does not appear. CEOs, account directors, strategists, creatives, people from media. Everyone returns to the same conclusion: the consumer no longer trusts anyone, relevance is no longer built through speed but through clarity and trust, and in a world of AI, trust becomes a key differentiation.
Interestingly, we talk about trust as something self-evident. Like air. Like water. Like something that exists until it disappears. We use it every day, but rarely define it. What does “trust me” actually mean? Why is trust more important today than ever? And what happens in our brain when we trust someone or something, how does a person experience trust?
I asked myself that question again after conversations about trends in the communication industry. Not because trust is a new topic, but because it is an old topic that has suddenly returned to the center of everything.
When crisis knocks on the door again, and it already sounds like it’s pounding, it is important to define trust, not take it as some abstract concept… It is a matter of survival of relationships between people, institutions and brands.
Trust as a cognitive shortcut – what happens in the brain?
If we try to understand trust through psychology and behavioral science, we arrive at a simple truth: trust is a mechanism through which the brain saves energy. Our brain makes up about two percent of body mass, but consumes approximately twenty percent of the organism’s total energy.
From an evolutionary perspective, the primary task of the brain is to keep us alive with as little energy expenditure as possible, not to be creative, philosophical or deep. We are human, and this is a biological fact. That is why it constantly looks for shortcuts. Habits. Patterns. Heuristics. Trust is one of those cognitive shortcuts. When we trust, we do not analyze. We don’t read every label, don’t open fifty reviews, don’t doubt every word. The brain receives a signal of safety and calm, and temporarily lowers its monitoring system. It saves energy. And without cognitive effort, we buy, share, recommend.
Neuromarketing research tells us that when we are under time pressure, trust evaluations become more automatic, and stronger, instead of relying on slower recall and detailed analysis. In other words, in a world where we are all in a hurry, trust is a shortcut without which everyday functioning (for the brain) becomes too costly.
That is why trust is not only an emotional construct nor a rational decision. It is also a physiological relief. Research by Paul J. Zak has shown that oxytocin plays an important role in social bonding and willingness to cooperate, including situations that involve risk and evaluation of the other party.
But there is a problem. Trust is easiest to build in a stable, predictable environment. And we no longer live in a stable world.
Why trust is becoming a (cognitive) luxury for today’s consumer
Before we consider how to build trust, we must understand whom we are trying to trust today, and who is trying to trust us.
This image stayed with me about 15 years ago, when at a GfK conference we provided a framework for a presentation on trends after the global crisis that began in 2008. Once again, we are following news about a new global crisis.
This representation is not something that is “understandable only to economists” and should remain within expert circles. This is now every living room – energy crisis, social unrest, deflation… These are no longer (only) topics covered by news and portals. This is the framework and conditions under which people decide whether they will trust us/you.
And so we come to the consumer. The one tightening their belt, buying on promotion (tracked via apps), turning to private labels and discount chains. Not because they are irresponsible or disloyal – but because they are surviving.
Today’s consumers remember crises well: 2008, 2020, 2022, and their brain is already programmed to expect another deterioration. They don’t buy “if”, they buy “while there is still some left”.
Consumers are anxious, frugal, unpredictable and constantly questioning, while the market is highly polarized.
Today’s consumer lives in what we call permacrisis… Anxiety has become the default state. And an anxious brain does not trust easily. It consumes more energy, builds shortcuts with more difficulty and constantly remains in a state of caution.
That is why today’s consumer is both frugal and cautious. They save money, but even more they save attention and emotional engagement. Consumers do not have capacity for brands that tire them, complicate things, burden them.
The consumer is unpredictable, more than ever before. Yesterday price mattered, today ethics, tomorrow sustainability. There is no longer a “typical consumer” whose behavior we can predict based on demographics or segmented personas. “Targeting” (passive, without interaction) as a strategy belongs to the past.
Consumers do not buy only a product. They buy the feeling that they made the right decision at the wrong time. They buy security. They buy a decision they will not have to question. The middle has collapsed.
In such a context (and context is King), trust is not just “nice to have”. It becomes a basic condition for any relationship: with a brand, an institution, another person.
Why is trust harder to build/acquire today than ever before?
If trust is a cognitive shortcut that our brain has always used, why is it becoming increasingly difficult to build it?
The attention economy forces us to make new micro-decisions every few seconds. Social media rewards sensation, not truth. Algorithms amplify polarization, because engagement often comes from fear and anger (rage bait strategies). Fake news turns fact-checking into a daily task. AI blurs the line between real and generated.
Parasocial relationships create an illusion of closeness without real experience, so trust is no longer the result of a relationship, but a perception of a relationship. All of this means the brain has to work harder just to assess whom it can trust.
A study published in Social Neuroscience shows how the mental dynamics of relationships change depending on whether we perceive a situation as a space of trust or a space of power. In short, when there is no trust, the brain works harder. It is no wonder that the consumer is exhausted and anxious.
Loyalty is not bought, it is earned
We cannot talk about loyalty without talking about trust. Loyalty is behavior. Trust is the internal state that enables that behavior.
True loyalty comes from trust. True loyalty comes from trust, lasts longer than a single promotional campaign. And it cannot be bought. It must be earned. Through consistency, honesty, care, transparency.
Values as the glue of relationships
Values are often mentioned but rarely operationalized. Values are the glue of all relationships.
Values are a declaration of predictability. The problem arises when they remain on a website or in presentations – declarative, not operational.
The brain quickly registers mismatch, which creates cognitive dissonance, and destroys trust faster than any crisis communication can repair it.
Trust in oneself
We must not overlook what happens internally, in the people who lead those brands, but also in those who choose them.
People who do not trust their own decisions find it harder to trust others. On the other hand, those who trust themselves more easily build trusting relationships with others.
Trust capital
Perhaps it is more useful to view trust as capital. Behavioral sciences describe trust as a savings account. Every fulfilled promise represents a deposit into the trust account.
Trust is not built in crisis. It is built over years, systematically. And crisis only shows whether we have succeeded.
