The "AI-Free" Trust Disruption: Backlash or the Future of Responsible AI?

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
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**Alexis Waringa** (0:34)
Welcome to Gartner ThinkCast, I'm Alexis Waringa. Today, we're revisiting a conversation we started late last year with Gartner Senior Director Analyst, Deepak Seth. Last time, we explored the future of AI implementation, what's real, what's hype, and what CIOs need to do right now. Today, we're picking up that thread with a twist. As AI continues to spread into every corner of business and life, a counter movement is emerging. People are starting to ask, can I trust this content, and was a human behind it? Deepak has been researching where all of this is heading and how we can already look towards our grocery aisles and shampoo bottles for some surprising parallels. So with that, Deepak, welcome back.

**Deepak Seth** (1:15)
So excited to be back on the show. Thanks, Alexis. I remember we did the show last year and it did really, really well. So thanks to our wonderful audience. Would love to take this conversation forward. Go ahead, what do you want to talk about?

**Alexis Waringa** (1:28)
Yeah, it really seemed to strike a chord with our audience last time. Last time we spoke, you had a lot to say about the future of AI implementation. Has anything shifted since then and what's been top of mind for you now that we're well into 2026?

**Deepak Seth** (1:39)
I think if I were to respond to this question in one word, it would be trust. Trust has become paramount. So what has happened is with this proliferation of AI around us, people are getting a bit confused. People are not able to distinguish reality, fact from fiction, that kind of stuff. What happens as a result of that, adoption of this great technology can get vitiated because people are not able to figure out what they can trust and what they cannot trust. So it's a matter of key concerns, not only for individuals, but also for enterprises and governments. So yes, we have to figure out how to address this trust question, which is so paramount in the minds of people.

**Alexis Waringa** (2:21)
And you've been writing about this in what you call the AI-free trust revolution. Can you break that down for us? What would AI-free certification actually look like? And how far out are we before we might start even seeing it?

**Deepak Seth** (2:33)
Great, Alexis. Yeah, and this ties back to the thing which you were mentioning about the grocery aisle and the shampoo bottles. We are all very comfortable and familiar seeing labels like BPA-free, parabens-free on the shampoo bottles and gluten-free on the food we eat. We also see organic labels on food, and we trust that food to be more purer or better for us kind of thing. Similarly, what could happen is, this is what I wrote about as a part of one of the Daryl Plummer's seven major disruptions from 2025 to 2030, was about this renewed focus in human-created content, and associated with that, this concept of AI free. So certifications related to that have not emerged yet, but I can very well visualize them happening in the near future, in the next one to three years. BBC recently carried a story about that, how there is this renewed demand for people looking for AI free certifications. And as we take this conversation further, I'm sure I'll get an opportunity to share some examples of how this is playing out in the marketplace and in the minds of people.

**Alexis Waringa** (3:44)
Yeah, I mean, we're already seeing some self-reporting from content creators on the internet, from artists to authors to musicians, who are very clearly labeling their content as AI free and their full account as AI free. And even seeing people boycott certain other content creators who are using AI. And it seems like there is a level of trust in there right now. Do you think third party certifiers might emerge?

**Deepak Seth** (4:06)
Yes, yes, third party certifiers would emerge. Organizations themselves might certify the content and then people, depending upon how much they trust the organization, can take it on its face value or not. Because many of those labels on the shampoo bottles, BPA-free, paraben-free and others, we are relying on the vendor themselves to certify the content as being AI-free. But related to that is another important question is whether AI-free content will be able to drive a premium. Right now, those labels on the products like the BPA-free, paraben-free, gluten-free organizations are going ahead and putting those labels because they know that they will be able to just get a premium for that.