Trust and Responsibility in AI: An Interdisciplinary Social-Sector Perspective

The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence has intensified debates about responsibility, ethics, and trust. While regulatory frameworks and organizational ethics statements are proliferating, responsible AI is too often treated as compliance or reputation management rather than an organizing principle of practice. This perspective argues that social-sector organizations - including nonprofits, NGOs, and other mission-driven institutions - offer an instructive lens for rethinking responsible AI because they operate with structural vulnerability and high trust dependence. Drawing on business ethics, organizational theory, nonprofit and social-sector management, and human flourishing scholarship, the paper proposes shifting from harm-avoidance toward trust-centered, flourishing-oriented AI integration.