Independent · Nonprofit · Research-Driven
Building the global certification for trustworthy AI.
Trust is a powerful market differentiator, but no independent, evidence-based standard exists to prove it. We're building the certification that will let AI companies compete on trust, the way LEED let builders compete on sustainability.
The Trust Gap
Trust is a competitive advantage no one can prove yet.
Consumers reward companies for building AI responsibly and punish those who don't, yet no independent, evidence-based standard exists to prove a company has earned that trust. This is the gap the Digital Trust Council exists to close.
51%
of Americans do not trust AI companies to act ethically or responsibly
85%
of consumers say responsible AI use increases their trust in a company
25x
increase in product adoption from responsible AI branding
Who We Are
An independent nonprofit, built by experts in trust and safety.
The Digital Trust Council is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit led by a team of researchers, technologists, and operators, and guided by an advisory board spanning industry, academia, and civil society. Independence is our founding constraint: no company, government, or institution directs our research or certification outcomes.
Meet the TeamOur Principles
Independent
No company or institution directs our outcomes.
Voluntary
Standards earn credibility, not mandate it.
Measurable
Trust claims backed by evidence, not assertion.
Understandable
Built for practitioners and the public alike.
Dynamic
Evolves alongside the technology it governs.
Credible
Rigorous, transparent, independently validated.
"Independence isn't a feature of our work, it's the whole point. The moment a company or government can steer our findings, the certification stops meaning anything."
Catherine Feldman
Executive Director
Products
Trust Index
We're building the infrastructure behind AI certification.
The Trust Index is the first building block toward DTC Certification, our LEED-style standard for trustworthy AI. It aggregates benchmarks, standards, and evaluations into one open, comparable index, tiered and evidence-linked rather than reduced to a single gameable score. That evidence base is what DTC Certification will be built on.
Explore the Trust IndexTrust Index · Preview Label
Research
New Paper · July 2026
We're publishing what we've learned.
"Closing the Trust Gap," our new paper, makes the case: a decade of responsible AI practice has not produced a market that rewards trustworthiness. 59% of Americans have little to no confidence in companies to develop and use AI responsibly (Pew Research Center, 2025). Closing that gap requires independent, outcome-oriented certification, modeled on what LEED established for buildings and SOC 2 established for security.
Read the Paper
Community
Upcoming Events
We're convening the community.
DTC brings together the researchers, technologists, policymakers, and civic leaders shaping AI accountability, from small industry gatherings to our flagship annual Summit.
See All Events
Our Journey
2025
Convening the experts
We began by engaging directly with industry leaders, AI experts, engineers, researchers, policymakers, elected officials, and universities to map where trust in AI was breaking down.
2026
Publishing the research
Those conversations became "Closing the Trust Gap," a research paper backed by dozens of contributors making the case for independent, evidence-based certification.
Underway
Building in parallel
The Trust Index is turning that research into open infrastructure, while we develop the rigorous methodology the DTC Certification will run on.
Next
Launching the DTC Certification
Modeled after LEED, the DTC Certification will give both the builders and users of AI a credible, independent standard to compete and decide on trust.
Beyond
Expanding past AI
Once established, we will extend the DTC Certification to other digital products and technologies where trust is just as hard to prove.
"We built the Trust Index because good intentions weren't producing measurable trust. If we can't measure it, we can't certify it, and if we can't certify it, the market has no way to reward it."
Jeff Dunn
Chief Operating Officer