---
_id: '59917'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: nder the slogan of trustworthy AI, much of contemporary AI research is focused
    on designing AI systems and usage practices that inspire human trust and, thus,
    enhance adoption of AI systems. However, a person affected by an AI system may
    not be convinced by AI system design alone---neither should they, if the AI system
    is embedded in a social context that gives good reason to believe that it is used
    in tension with a person’s interest. In such cases,  distrust in the system may
    be justified and necessary to build meaningful trust in the first place. We propose
    the term \emph{healthy distrust} to describe such a justified, careful stance
    towards certain AI usage practices. We investigate prior notions of trust and
    distrust in computer science, sociology, history, psychology, and philosophy,
    outline a remaining gap that healthy distrust might fill and conceptualize healthy
    distrust as a crucial part for AI usage that respects human autonomy.
author:
- first_name: Benjamin
  full_name: Paaßen, Benjamin
  last_name: Paaßen
- first_name: Suzana
  full_name: Alpsancar, Suzana
  id: '93637'
  last_name: Alpsancar
- first_name: Tobias
  full_name: Matzner, Tobias
  id: '65695'
  last_name: Matzner
- first_name: Ingrid
  full_name: Scharlau, Ingrid
  id: '451'
  last_name: Scharlau
  orcid: 0000-0003-2364-9489
citation:
  ama: Paaßen B, Alpsancar S, Matzner T, Scharlau I. Healthy Distrust in AI systems.
    <i>arXiv</i>. Published online 2025.
  apa: Paaßen, B., Alpsancar, S., Matzner, T., &#38; Scharlau, I. (2025). Healthy
    Distrust in AI systems. In <i>arXiv</i>.
  bibtex: '@article{Paaßen_Alpsancar_Matzner_Scharlau_2025, title={Healthy Distrust
    in AI systems}, journal={arXiv}, author={Paaßen, Benjamin and Alpsancar, Suzana
    and Matzner, Tobias and Scharlau, Ingrid}, year={2025} }'
  chicago: Paaßen, Benjamin, Suzana Alpsancar, Tobias Matzner, and Ingrid Scharlau.
    “Healthy Distrust in AI Systems.” <i>ArXiv</i>, 2025.
  ieee: B. Paaßen, S. Alpsancar, T. Matzner, and I. Scharlau, “Healthy Distrust in
    AI systems,” <i>arXiv</i>. 2025.
  mla: Paaßen, Benjamin, et al. “Healthy Distrust in AI Systems.” <i>ArXiv</i>, 2025.
  short: B. Paaßen, S. Alpsancar, T. Matzner, I. Scharlau, ArXiv (2025).
date_created: 2025-05-16T09:39:13Z
date_updated: 2025-11-18T09:38:01Z
department:
- _id: '424'
- _id: '26'
- _id: '756'
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
  url: https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.09747
oa: '1'
project:
- _id: '122'
  name: 'TRR 318 - B3: TRR 318 - Subproject B3'
- _id: '124'
  name: 'TRR 318 - C1: TRR 318 - Subproject C1 - Gesundes Misstrauen in Erklärungen'
- _id: '370'
  name: 'TRR 318 - B06: TRR 318 - Teilprojekt B6 - Ethik und Normativität der erklärbaren
    KI'
publication: arXiv
status: public
title: Healthy Distrust in AI systems
type: preprint
user_id: '93637'
year: '2025'
...