Editorial: "Trust doesn’t arise on its own."

At the same time, innovations are emerging at a pace that sometimes leaves us barely enough time to fully understand their impact. It is precisely in times like these that the need for guidance grows. Trust does not arise on its own – it requires comprehensible processes, transparent decisions, and institutions that create reliability. This has been the strength of VDE and electrotechnical standardization for more than 130 years: They accompany change by creating common rules and bringing different interests together to find viable solutions.

But trust does not end with standards. Increasingly, the question arises of how much lack of knowledge we can accept when machines make decisions for us. Do we need to be able to understand every computational step of an AI, or is it enough if its results are reliable and verifiable? At the same time, it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish reality from deception. AI can generate deceptively realistic images, videos, or voices, thereby undermining our trust in information. Yet technology is not only part of the problem – it is also part of the solution: It can help detect manipulation and create transparency. Trust therefore does not mean blindly following technology, but rather knowing its possibilities and its limitations.

With this issue, we would like to shed light on various facets of trust: from the role of international standardization and the responsible use of intelligent machines to the question of how technology can help distinguish truth from deception. I hope you find many thought-provoking insights. And perhaps we will see you in November at the IEC General Meeting in Hamburg.

Henrike Gördes, Head of the DKE Governance Office