Why it matters
Legitimacy depends on data handling, transparency, redress, human oversight, and whether people understand where AI is being used.
Go to the source
Read the evidence behind this analysis. External links open in a new tab.
oecd.orgPrivacyLaw & informationGlobalGovernance
OECD Trust Survey chapter, “Trustworthy artificial intelligence in the public sector”
OECD’s 2026 trust-survey chapter finds that most people remain skeptical of AI deployment in the public sector, and that people are more likely to expect AI to improve service quality and efficiency than to expect it to be fair, transparent, privacy-protective, or subject to human oversight. This suggests that public-sector AI adoption is not just a technical capacity problem.
The impact in one sentence
OECD’s 2026 trust-survey chapter finds that most people remain skeptical of AI deployment in the public sector, and that people are more likely to expect AI to improve service quality and efficiency than to expect it to be fair, transparent, privacy-protective, or subject to human oversight.
