SAN FRANCISCO, July 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amid growing concerns around AI transparency, fairness, and societal impact, Zenolabs.AI CEO Rohan Sharma today launched the Equitable AI Trust Index™—the first public framework scoring AI systems on democratic legitimacy, transparency, and civic accountability. The release aligns with Sharma’s Springer Nature book, AI and the Boardroom, recently featured in Directors Today.

“Boards and policymakers urgently need a single, clear lens on AI risk,” Sharma said. “Our Index integrates NIST, OECD, and EU AI Act standards into a transparent, easy-to-use scoring system. For the first time, stakeholders gain immediate visibility into where algorithms are accountable—or critically falling short.”

Why It Matters
Recent surveys reveal 46% of users distrust AI and 64% of firms lack visibility into model risk. With the EU AI Act’s enforcement deadlines approaching in 2026, the Equitable AI Trust Index™ equips organizations with policy-ready tools to meet stringent transparency and accountability requirements, critical for responsible scaling across enterprises, cities, and governments.

How the Index Works
The Index offers a clear, actionable framework for assessing AI fairness and accountability:

• Public Trust Metric: first-of-its-kind score measuring community trust in AI through public input.
• Proactive Risk Alerts: real-time insights to ensure compliance with global standards, months ahead of deadlines.
• Fairness Focus: prioritizes equity for underserved communities and public services.
• Policy-Ready Reports: instantly generate EU AI Act, NIST, and OECD-aligned audit reports.

About Rohan Sharma
Sharma has led AI, data and digital programs at Apple, Disney and Thermo Fisher Scientific. A recognized authority on AI governance, Sharma advises Stanford Seed and UCLA Anderson, contributes regularly to Forbes and the World Economic Forum, and serves on advisory councils including Harvard Business Review and Frost C Sullivan. His TEDx Yale talk and peer-reviewed chapters on AI governance and ethics have reached global audiences from Hollywood to Washington, D.C.

Equitable AI Trust Index™: Analysis of Major AI Models
The first comprehensive assessment of leading AI models using the 11-point Index reveals a democratic-legitimacy crisis in AI governance:

Key Findings
Our analysis reveals a democratic legitimacy crisis in AI governance, with only 20% of leading models meeting exemplary civic trust standards.

• 20%: of leading models meet exemplary civic trust standards
• 59-point: governance gap between best and worst performing models
• 90.9/100: highest overall trust score (Anthropic Claude)
• 39.4/100: lowest overall trust score (OpenAI ChatGPT)

Availability

• AI and the Boardroom (ISBN 979-8-8688-0796-1) — available worldwide through Springer Nature and Amazon.
  

• Equitable AI Trust Index™ white paper and toolkit — free download at https://trustworthyaiindex.org/methodology
  

Media Contact
press@zenolabs.ai | +1 323 236 8723

Press kit (headshot, logos, Index score chart): https://trustworthyaiindex.org/methodology

Boilerplate
The Equitable AI Trust Index™ is a public-good initiative maintained by Zenolabs.AI, created to make algorithmic trust measurable, transparent, and comparable. Zenolabs.AI is a venture studio dedicated to advancing responsible AI governance and public accountability.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b8acf08c-6b63-4c8d-af43-2e60e7cd6b63