Between doubt and deference: trust and harm in the risk society

This commentary builds on Osman’s (Citation2025) analysis of psychological harm in consumer products with internet connectivity (CPIC) by examining how AI and digital platforms are crucial in reshaping the epistemic environment, driven by changing notions of societal trust and perceptions of expertise. Drawing on evidence from studies of trust in digital environments and emerging patterns of online collective action, we argue that the rise of AI-enabled platforms has created a paradigm shift: from vertical, institution-centred models of trust and harm prevention to horizontal, network-based systems of knowledge validation and risk assessment. This transformation demands new frameworks for understanding psychological harm—ones that can account for both direct technological impacts and the broader reconfiguration of how society negotiates truth, expertise, and responsibility in an AI-enabled world. It also sets out the challenge for traditional, vertically structured institutions to more effectively engage with the public.