Insights from the AI & Trust Index Study

Building on the Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics in Financial Services’ large-scale Trust in Financial Services Study, the Center for Ethics in Financial Services launched the inaugural AI & Trust survey in June 2025 in collaboration with the Center’s Maguire Fellow in Applied Ethics, Jason M. Pattit, PhD. The survey was conducted as part of the AI & Trust Index Study to better understand the factors that enhance trust in financial tools that utilize traditional and agentic AI. This new research index provides insights into whether and why consumers trust financial tools that utilize AI and intend to use them.

What the Research Reveals:

• How consumer trust in AI-enabled financial tools is built
• Why consumer trust alone does not translate into adoption
• How security perceptions influence client confidence
• Practical perspective on designing AI-enabled client experiences

The findings point to important implications for practice, highlighting that trust alone is not enough to drive the use of AI-enabled financial tools and that factors such as security perceptions, ease of use, and usefulness play a critical role.

Download the white paper to explore the complete findings and recommendations for practice.

More on the Center for Ethics

• Explore the Center’s Responsible AI program to learn more about how it is helping the industry navigate this complex space, including our quarterly Responsible AI Executive Forums.  
• Discover more key insights on AI ethics through the Center’s recent publications on our website, the NAIC Journal, the Journal on AI Policy and Complex Systems, and the Journal of Financial Planning.