Issues of trust and control on agent autonomy

Abstract

The relationship between trust and control is quite relevant both for the very notion of trust and for modelling and implementing trust-control relations with autonomous systems. We claim that control is antagonistic of the strict form of trust: 'trust in y'; but also that it completes and complements it for arriving to a global trust. In other words, putting control and guaranties is trust-building; it produces a sufficient trust, when trust in y's autonomous willingness and competence would not be enough. We also argue that control requires new forms of trust: trust in the control itself or in the controller, trust in y as for being monitored and controlled, trust in possible authorities, etc. Finally, we show that paradoxically control could not be antagonistic of strict trust in y, but it can even create, increase it by making y more willing or more effective. In conclusion, depending on the circumstances, control makes y more reliable or less reliable; control can either decrease or increase trust. A good theory of trust cannot be complete without a theory of control.