TRUST CONTROL: Trust is no longer a feeling.
6.0 The New Trust Paradigm Episode: Scoring Trustworthiness of Human and AI Agent "Workers"
It's starting to happen at work and inside a blockchain-based online dispute resolution platform: A new trust paradigm is unfolding in which the technical trust measures needed by computers and bots are beginning to seep into human ideas of trust. Some people believe we're already on a trajectory toward continuous, machine-readable trust scores and "continuous proof of humanity." Indeed, some say that "trust is no longer a feeling."
Business and tech consultancies like McKinsey and Company say AI agents are workers, just like human employees. And that means humans will be forced to prove their trustworthiness using the same computational trust signals bots like Eudamon, Reefwatcher and the other AI agents featured in the first episode of Trust Control are measured by. Indeed, the lines are blurring.
In this episode:
- Agentic trust scoring startups
- The demand for continuous, machine readable trust scoring of agents and humans
- Questioning assumptions of transparency-based blockchain trustworthiness
- The future of AI agent juries and judges in blockchain dispute resolution "courtrooms"
People Featured in this Episode:
- Kate Kaye, Trust Control creator and narrator
- Michael Fauscette, Founder, CEO and Chief Analyst of Arion Research
- Cemre Çise Kadıoğlu Kumtepe, Assistant Professor, Department of Information and Technology Law, Ankara University, Türkiye
Key References (Mostly) in Order of Appearance
PART ONE
Benchmarking real-time trust scoring across five AI Agent architectures
CleanLab
2025
See also: Handshake acquires CleanLab (2026)
The agentic organization: Contours of the next paradigm for the AI era
McKinsey and Company
2025
State of AI trust in 2026: Shifting to the agentic era
McKinsey ad Company
2026
Building the Digital Workforce
by Michael Fauscette
2025
PART TWO
European Union Digital Services Act
Article 21
2022
See also: Out-of-court dispute settlement bodies under the Digital Services Act (DSA)
Kleros in the Agentic Society: AI Jurors, Kill Switches & the Future of Dispute Resolution
Kleros
2026
Unpacking the technology of trust: establishing trust and fairness in online dispute resolution through blockchain and smart contracts
International Journal of Law and Information Technology
by Cemre Çise Kadıo?lu Kumtepe
2025
Due Process in Blockchain Dispute Resolution Theory and Compliance
by Cemre Çise Kadıo?lu Kumtepe
2026
Unveiling the Kleros Court MCP Server
(see Use Case 1: Automated Due Diligence Agent)
Skywork
2025
Schelling Points: Why Kleros Jurors Converge on the Truth
Kleros
2026
Thomas Schelling, Nobel Laureate and Longtime RAND Consultant, Dies at 95
Rand
2016
The Strategy of Conflict Prospectus for a Reorientation of Game Theory
by Thomas C. Schelling
The Journal of Conflict Resolution
1958
Trust and Suspicion
by Morton Deutsch
Journal of Conflict Resolution
1958
The effect of motivational orientation upon trust and suspicion
by Morton Deutsch
Human Relations
1960
PART THREE
Evaluations for the agentic world
Agentic AI from QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey
2026
iTWire TV interview with Lakshmi Hanspal, Digicert
2026
Trust Control Credits
Trust Control was researched, written, edited and produced by Kate Kaye. All interviews with sources featured in Trust Control were conducted by Kate unless otherwise noted.
Fake ads and silly satire was voiced by Kate Kaye and/or Kyle Huth
Music
The tunes featured throughout Trust Control were written by D. Rives Curtright and performed by the band Epic Strange from Trust Control's home of Portland, Oregon:
- D. Rives Curtright: guitar, baritone sax, percussion and drum machine
- Charlie Gotgart: bass
- Steven Francisco: midi keys
- Octavio Dowling: keys
- Dave Coniglio: drums and vibraphone
- Mike McGovern: bass on Decimation
Hear the full Epic Strange album, Nouveau Electric Mess, on Soundcloud. Hear music from D. Rives Curtright on Spotify.
The work that went into Trust Control was done in Kate Kaye's personal time and was supported by Oregon State University's Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts fellowship on Trust in the Age of Generative AI and Oregon Humanities.
