---
title: "Trust in AI tools — AI data 2026"
url: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/ai/data/ai-trust
year: 2026
chapter: "ai"
question: "AITrust"
section: "Trust in AI and other trends"
licence: "ODbL 1.0 (https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/)"
---

# Trust in AI tools

Trust is conditional: 48% trust AI when they can easily verify it, while only 7% trust it with important decisions. Even among early career (1-5 years exp.) users, important-decision trust is just 4%.

Asked as: How much do you trust the output from AI tools or AI agents as part of your workflow? (`AITrust`, single select, optional, v2026.1)

## Options offered

1. I do not trust it for most work tasks
2. I trust it for low-risk work tasks only
3. I trust it when I can easily verify the output
4. I trust it for many tasks, but not important work decisions
5. I trust it for many tasks, including important work decisions
6. Not sure / I do not use AI tools

## Results

### All Respondents

n = 14,304

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| I trust it when I can easily verify the output | 6,872 | 48.0% |
| I trust it for many tasks, but not important work decisions | 2,329 | 16.3% |
| I trust it for low-risk work tasks only | 2,326 | 16.3% |
| I do not trust it for most work tasks | 1,754 | 12.3% |
| I trust it for many tasks, including important work decisions | 949 | 6.6% |
| Not sure / I do not use AI tools | 74 | 0.5% |

### 1 - 5 yrs work exp

n = 3,259

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| I trust it when I can easily verify the output | 1,515 | 46.5% |
| I trust it for many tasks, but not important work decisions | 525 | 16.1% |
| I trust it for low-risk work tasks only | 640 | 19.6% |
| I do not trust it for most work tasks | 408 | 12.5% |
| I trust it for many tasks, including important work decisions | 146 | 4.5% |
| Not sure / I do not use AI tools | 25 | 0.8% |

### 6 - 15 yrs work exp

n = 4,950

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| I trust it when I can easily verify the output | 2,334 | 47.2% |
| I trust it for many tasks, but not important work decisions | 870 | 17.6% |
| I trust it for low-risk work tasks only | 811 | 16.4% |
| I do not trust it for most work tasks | 615 | 12.4% |
| I trust it for many tasks, including important work decisions | 309 | 6.2% |
| Not sure / I do not use AI tools | 11 | 0.2% |

### 16+ yrs work exp

n = 5,512

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| I trust it when I can easily verify the output | 2,775 | 50.3% |
| I trust it for many tasks, but not important work decisions | 854 | 15.5% |
| I trust it for low-risk work tasks only | 747 | 13.6% |
| I do not trust it for most work tasks | 653 | 11.9% |
| I trust it for many tasks, including important work decisions | 460 | 8.4% |
| Not sure / I do not use AI tools | 23 | 0.4% |

In context: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/ai/data.md