Can We Trust Machines? The Role of Trust in Technological Environments

In this paper, I will deal with trust in technological devices. Nowadays, we are led to trust AI machines, extending the notion of “trust” to our relationship with such devices. After reviewing different forms of trust and showing that trust is inextricably linked with a sort of fear, this paper will try to relate all this to the ethical judgement we can form about what machines “do” as well as about the machines themselves. Prompted by this, the paper will discuss the case of a recent attempt made by the EU at working out ethical guidelines for a trustworthy AI. To conclude, it will try to answer the above question – can we trust machines? – and accurately define on what terms they can be trusted.