Trustworthy AI: How Ethicswashing Undermines Consumer Trust

Abstract

Ethicswashing is a neologism that has, due to the release of ethical guidelines for trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (AI) by the European Union, recently gained in popularity. Although the term is closely related to the concept of greenwashing, it is currently primarily used to describe companies' undertakings to keep ethical debates running in order to influence or avoid strict regulations. However, it is not clear yet whether ethicswashing has further implications similar to those already revealed for greenwashing or sharewashing. In an online survey with 94 participants, we find that perceived ethicswashing has a significant negative effect on consumer trust, whereby the effect is mediated by the perception of risk and consumer confusion (based on PLS SEM). With our results, we thus contribute a further flipside to the discussion of ethics in AI and provide a starting point for developing a comprehensive understanding of ethicswashing and its influence on trust.