From Lawmakers to Bankers: Canadians Trust Almost Everyone More Than AI

Why This Story Matters Now

If it feels like confidence in major institutions is slipping, you’re not imagining it. In Canada, 2025 has already delivered plenty of reminders: Meta’s ongoing ban on Canadian news content, Google’s regulatory deal with Ottawa, and even door-to-door construction scams. Add in growing unease about AI search tools, and you’ve got a trust crisis brewing.

New data from dNovo Group confirms trust is eroding across industries, technology, and even borders. As consumers are pushed more and more towards AI solutions, it’s the old ways of choosing a business to patronize that are resonating more loudly than ever.

Key Takeaways

• Canadians place more trust in healthcare providers than in any other industry, while AI search tools sit at the very bottom, even below lawmakers.
• Canadians say dishonesty is the quickest way to destroy trust, more damaging than poor product quality or bad service, while much-publicized executive scandals matter far less.
• Younger Canadians are much less trusting of U.S. companies than older generations, giving Canadian brands a clear advantage.
• Both higher-and lower-income households show deep skepticism of AI search compared to Google, signaling widespread resistance.
• As for choosing where to spend one’s dollar, word of mouth from friends and family outranks every digital source, including online reviews, social media, and AI recommendations.

The Trust Hierarchy: From Heroes to Zeros

We asked nearly 2,000 Canadians to rate their trust in a wide range of industries, companies, and technologies on a scale from 1 (most trustworthy to 5 least trustworthy), and to tell us what actions most often cause that trust to collapse.

Healthcare providers sit at the top with an average score of 3.77 out of 5, well above any other category. At the very bottom: AI search tools, scoring just 1.91.

Traditional service industries like plumbing and HVAC (3.08) fare reasonably well, while financial services (2.44), insurance (2.35), and government services (2.34) sink into the low-trust zone. Tech companies (2.38) join them, revealing that Canadians are increasingly skeptical of digital platforms.

Financial services and banks languish at 2.44, tech companies at 2.38, and insurance at 2.35. Government services score just 2.34, while builders and contractors scrape by at 2.31. Even Google Search, the tool billions use daily, manages only 2.26.

Lawmakers? They’re almost at the bottom with 2.08. The only thing Canadians trust less? The aforementioned AI search tools at 1.91.

Dealbreakers That Make Canadians Run, Not Walk Away

Trust takes years to build but seconds to lose. For Canadians, dishonesty or misleading information is the top deal-breaker (26%), followed by poor product or service quality (21%). 

Thirteen percent of Canadians say bad or discriminatory behavior from employees is enough to cut ties. Twelve percent point to privacy violations, while 9% say poor customer service, and 6% say hidden fees are enough to make them reconsider their options; numbers that feel small given our digital world, but maybe reflect fatigue as much as acceptance.

Just 5% of consumers said unethical or inappropriate behavior by executives would be the main reason they’d lose trust, a far cry from the media narrative that the public is deeply invested in what company leaders do in their personal lives. 

Word of Mouth Still Rules the Trust Hierarchy

Despite the rise of AI tools promising smarter, faster recommendations, the data shows that consumers continue to lean heavily on human judgment and personal experience when choosing a business.

Word of mouth from friends and family tops the list with an average trust score of 4.31 out of 5, the highest of any channel by a wide margin. Online communities like Reddit (3.85) and platforms like Google Reviews (3.25) perform respectably but still trail behind direct recommendations from people consumers know personally. At the very bottom are AI-generated recommendations, which earn a meager 1.92 on average. 

Why Canadians Favor Homegrown Over U.S. Brands

Trust doesn’t end at the water’s edge. When comparing Canadian and U.S. firms, the home team almost always comes out ahead.

Gen Z shows the least faith in American companies with a measly 1.37 out of 5. Millennials aren’t much kinder at 1.55. Gen X comes in at 1.95, while Boomers muster 2.21, hardly glowing, but still higher than their kids and grandkids. Younger Canadians grew up watching U.S. tech giants gobble up data, American banks spark crises, and U.S. retailers pull out of Canadian markets. Their mistrust is learned, not inherited. Add in the threats and tough talk from the current U.S. administration, and that skepticism hardens further. And the stakes are high: Canada is the largest export market for the U.S., yet Canada still ran a merchandise trade surplus of about C$100 billion in 2024. For American firms, that’s a long hill to climb if Canada’s next generation maintains this sentiment.

Skepticism Toward AI Spans All Income Brackets

Whether struggling to get by or sitting at the top of the income ladder, Canadians share one view: AI search hasn’t earned their trust. It’s the middle-income households that show the most willingness to give it a chance.

Among households making $150,000 or more, 62% say they trust AI less than Google, a sign that wealthier Canadians may be more risk-averse, valuing reliability over experimentation. At the other end, 72% of those earning under $30,000 also favor Google, likely because financial insecurity leaves little room to gamble on unproven tools. The middle brackets aren’t much different, with still about half expressing less trust in AI, though they show slightly more willingness to give it a chance. 

The Generation Game: Who’s Ready for AI?

Examining the AI trust gap, we can see patterns reflecting generational attitudes, seemingly shaped by digital nativism.

Gen Z is the only generation that says they trust AI search more than Google. They’ve grown up alongside algorithm-driven platforms, so experimenting with new tools feels natural, even if most still hedge their bets.

Millennials and Gen X, on the other hand, show more caution; nearly half in each group say they trust AI less, a reflection of living through data breaches, shifting tech fads, and the rise of misinformation online. Then there are the Baby Boomers. Only 23% say they trust AI less, and 21% actually give it more credit than Google. But nearly half (49%) fall in the middle, saying the two feel about the same. That suggests older Canadians aren’t rejecting AI outright; instead, they’re withholding judgment until it proves itself reliable.

The Bottom Line: People Trust People

For businesses, the path to winning trust isn’t about flashy technology or clever marketing; it’s about proving reliability where it counts. Canadians say the qualities that matter most are product quality and transparency, and the numbers back it up. And no matter how much tech giants invest in AI and traditional search tools designed to predict our every whim, they still can’t beat good old word of mouth when it comes to winning customers. That means the brands that will thrive are those that deliver consistently, communicate honestly, and let satisfied customers become their loudest advocates.

Methodology

This survey was conducted in September 2025 via Prolific, surveying 1,923 Canadian adults across the ten provinces. Respondents were 52% male, 46% female, and 2% represented other gender identities. The average age of respondents was 38.4 years. 

Fair Use

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