The Role of Transparency in AI Branding

As the AI industry grows, so does the need for transparency.

There’s a lot of good news for anyone looking to break into AI. Somewhere around 77% of companies are exploring how to incorporate AI into their day-to-day, and the industry is expected to grow by at least 33% every year for the foreseeable future–which means the demand is there.

People are getting smarter with the questions they have about AI. Concerns around data privacy, algorithmic bias, and even ethical practices are top of mind. 

The best AI startups tackle these questions head-on, recognizing the opportunity to build trust, brand awareness, and eventually even loyalty.

Growing Demand for Transparency in AI

To the less tech savvy, AI can feel like a black box. Media sources often cite the fear of AI displacing people from the workforce, casting a negative light.

Certain controversies in everyday AI have eroded public trust and serve to further strengthen the voices demanding transparency. The world’s biggest job sites, including LinkedIn and ZipRecruiter, were called out for biased job-matching algorithms, while companies like Amazon faced backlash for deploying AI tools that favored male candidates. Concerns around AI-powered facial recognition driving increased racial profiling are backed by statistics. The list continues.

Governments and regulating bodies are increasingly pushing for AI accountability, making upfront transparency a competitive advantage. News coverage of these events creates public expectation, even if it’s unconscious, for AI startups to hold themselves accountable.  From the CCPA to GDPR, there is a lot of energy being spent on setting standards for AI best practices, from privacy through profiling.

While transparency is a vast topic, and transparency in AI is quickly evolving, there are three AI-specific directions you need to factor into your brand and messaging: algorithms, data, and ethics.

Transparency in Algorithms: Explaining the “Why” Behind AI Decisions

When people can follow how AI works, they are more likely to feel confident in its fairness and reliability, and trust your brand. Explaining how your AI product works in terms that most people can understand is a huge first step in this direction.

Part of this can involve offering simple explanations of how your AI model functions. You can use case studies or scenarios to demonstrate the decision-making process in action. You can build interactive tools that showcase decision pathways and map the different outcomes of your tools.

A lot of your branding work is about how you show up, which is a critical part to how you “show, don’t tell”. Saying you’re transparent is one thing; but actually demonstrating transparency through what you say and how you say it is extremely important as you develop your authenticity. A branding agency like C42D can help you define how you want to consistently communicate around values like transparency.

For starters, we can weave this consultative approach into your tone and voice, we can develop visual identity systems around product demonstrations and related visuals, and we can get creative on how we feature transparency as a core value across digital and print channels.

Data Transparency: Openness Around Collection and Usage

Many consumers are concerned about how their data gets collected, stored, and used by AI companies. There are a few different ways you can choose to approach this.

You can use clear, concise privacy policies to lay out what data is collected and why. You can explain how you protect or even anonymize data to safeguard user privacy. You should offer regular updates on changes in data policies and let users own opting in. By being upfront about data practices, startups can show respect for user privacy, further fostering trust.

Messaging and your communication channels are your primary tools in connecting with your audience about your data practices. Making it easy to view your policies and stay in-the-know about updates are ways you can both serve your audience as well as reinforce your dedication to transparency.

Ethical AI Practices: Aligning Brand Values with Action

AI startups can demonstrate their commitment to ethics by actively working to eliminate biases in their models and being transparent about the testing processes they use. This includes publicly sharing the results of ethical audits or AI impact assessments, offering insight into the steps taken to address potential biases or unintended consequences.

Startups can also show dedication to ethical AI by focusing on the diversity of data sets, ensuring that models are trained on inclusive, representative data to avoid skewed results. Transparency in how these efforts are approached signals to consumers values around fairness and equity. Embedding ethical considerations into the brand’s core values—through consistent actions and communication—positions the startup as a leader in responsible AI development. By embracing ethical challenges head-on and making these practices a central part of their brand identity, AI startups can foster trust and differentiate themselves.

AI is sophisticated technology, but it’s meant to serve us. Staying human-centric in your branding helps reinforce that you haven’t forgotten this. What does this look like for your startup? 

C42D can help define that beyond stock photos and trite sayings, surveying the competitive landscape to understand table stakes while also finding your unique voice so you can be authentic. After all, no one is going to convert to believing that you’re ethical just because they saw a photo of a smiling family on your site. This is an interesting problem that we’ve also had to handle for women’s health startups and venture capital firms, taking wildly different yet still human-centric approaches.

Clear Communication in Brand Positioning: Fostering Trust

At every level, communications should be clear. Plain language to explain complex AI concepts builds bridges. The trend of simple, scannable, straightforward language is one we definitely get behind for many reasons; one being that it makes you easier to understand—and to trust.

AI startups should ensure that values around transparency, fairness, and ethics are reflected across all touchpoints—websites, social media, marketing materials. Never oversell or obscure technology in any marketing campaigns. Figma is a good example of transparency in AI, with an entire section of their site dedicated to plain English explanations of their approach, from model training through data privacy and security.

Consistently show up to keep audiences informed of new developments–in your offering, in the industry, in best practices and standards–and you can quickly establish yourself as a trusted voice. 

Ready to build your brand into a celebrated and trusted AI leader? Let’s talk.