Exploring How We Build Truth — and Trust — Into Customer Experiences in the Age of AI
I Didn’t Buy the Puzzle. I Spent 45 Minutes Googling Whether It Was Real or Not.
We’re living in an era where synthetic brands, AI-generated influencers, and algorithmically- assembled websites can spin up overnight. They look real. They sound real. They seem ‘authentic’ — but they can be completely fabricated. And sometimes, even experiences from real companies feel sketchy. We’re questioning everything — even the things that look legit.
What does it actually take to earn trust in AI-powered customer experiences? Not just to grab attention — but to create something people believe, feel safe using, and want to come back to?
A few weeks ago, I saw an Instagram ad for a brand called PuzzlesUp. I love puzzles — so this one definitely caught my attention. Beautiful wooden puzzles — birds, owls, intricate shapes. Not your standard rectangle. The product design seemed original and fun. And they were on sale.
Yet, I didn’t buy one. Instead, I spent 45 minutes reading Reddit threads, digging into reviews, and watching a YouTube video trying to figure out if this company was legit. The deeper I looked, the more it seemed like it wasn’t. Or maybe it was — but barely. The line between “authentic” and “trustworthy” had completely blurred.
And that’s where we are now. According to the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, only 32% of the U.S. population trusts AI technology. And more than 3 in 5 people are worried about AI-driven misinformation. That trust gap is growing — and it’s reshaping how people engage with digital experiences, from what they believe to what they’re willing to act on. Trust has always been a moving target. But AI has made it faster, blurrier, and harder to catch.
We Need a New Paradigm for Trust in the Age of AI
When we think about trust in the age of automation, we need a new model — because most of what we once believed built trust — good design, tone, branding, data, and personalization — can now be faked.
Although I once believed authenticity was the answer, I’ve come to realize it’s not enough. You can sound authentic and still be deceptive. We see it happening in real time, every day.
So What Does it Mean to Design for Trust?
This isn’t just about messaging anymore. It’s about whether the entire experience — from first interaction to every moment after — can stand up to scrutiny and be experienced as undeniably true. Because when it’s not, people stop engaging. They lose confidence, stop buying, and quietly opt out.
We’re entering a new AI-powered era — one that demands a different kind of contract between companies and customers, where users come with new expectations:
They don’t just want good UX. They want verifiability. They don’t just want personalization. They want proof of intent. And they don’t want to rely on intuition. They want systems of accountability and reliability — baked into the experience.
So How do We Design Experiences that are Grounded in Trust?
That’s the question worth exploring. As someone who works in experience design and AI strategy, I’ve been thinking a lot about this. There’s ongoing work on a new way to approach trust in AI-powered experiences — one that moves beyond surface signals and into the practice of trust-centered design.
I’m excited to share more soon.
Rori
