How trust and safety go together

What is the interplay between trust and safety in healthcare, particularly concerning AI? Trust involves giving others the benefit of the doubt, and believing in their competence, while safety is about feeling secure enough to admit uncertainty or mistakes. Both are essential for fostering a collaborative, problem-solving environment. The challenge for AI in healthcare isn’t improving its accuracy or empathy but enhancing its authenticity. Doctors, by contrast, are often perceived as highly authentic, with their uniforms alone inspiring trust. However, even doctors can struggle with applying their skills consistently in high-pressure situations. Ultimately, the key to building trust in AI lies in addressing this authenticity gap while leveraging its strengths in logic and empathy to support healthcare professionals in their work.

Christian Ørsted has advised a wide range of organizations since 1996 and is one of the most popular leadership speakers in Denmark, conducting 400+ speeches, lectures and keynotes in the last five years – either as keynote on large conferences all over the world or for senior management in large corporations and organisations. His clients include businesses ranging from startups to international corporations; Coca-Cola, LEGO and Microsoft. He also works with government institutions and NGOs; The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Danish Red Cross and the United Nations.

During his presentation he draws on the work of Harvard’s Francis Frei and Anne Morriss, who define trust as a combination of three elements: logic (competence), empathy (caring for others’ well-being), and authenticity (consistency and truthfulness). Each of us may struggle with one of these aspects, which can undermine trust in relationships or in professional settings. Christian applies this framework to healthcare and AI, highlighting how AI often excels in logic.

A study showed that AI outperformed physicians in 80% of cases when answering patient questions, delivering higher-quality responses that were also significantly more empathetic—due in part to AI’s ability to generate longer, more detailed answers. Despite these strengths, AI struggles with authenticity, which is crucial in healthcare. While AI may provide accurate and empathetic answers, patients may still feel uneasy about trusting it fully, as authenticity involves genuine human concern and a sense of reliability that AI has yet to achieve.