Cybernews has launched a new AI Trustworthiness Ranking evaluating 500 artificial intelligence companies across 36 countries, highlighting significant differences in security, data privacy, organizational transparency and public perception as businesses and consumers increasingly rely on AI-powered services.
The ranking assigns each company a Trustworthiness Score ranging from zero to 100 based on four weighted pillars. Companies receiving scores of 75 or higher are designated AI Trustworthiness Leaders of 2026.
The project covers 21 categories, including AI assistants, office and productivity applications, coding platforms, music and audio services, and creative tools. Cybernews said it plans to update the ranking annually as the AI market and its associated security and privacy practices evolve.
Google Gemini Leads AI Trustworthiness Ranking
Google’s Gemini placed first in the ranking, followed by Krisp, Fireflies.ai, Adobe, Magnific, Writesonic, Veryfi, Salesforce, Grammarly and Lovable.
The results also showed substantial differences among AI industry categories. Office and Productivity companies recorded the highest average Trustworthiness Score at 78 out of 100. Music and Audio companies had the lowest category average at 54.
Among the four pillars evaluated, organizational transparency produced the strongest overall result, averaging 90 out of 100. Security was the weakest-performing pillar, with an average score of 32.
Cybernews said the ranking is intended to give users another way to assess the companies behind AI products, particularly as these services gain access to increasingly sensitive personal and corporate information.
The project is supported by an advisory board comprising specialists in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and technology.
Dr. Akshika Wijesundara, a member of the AI Trustworthiness Ranking Advisory Board, Co-founder of SnapDrum and TAI Labs, CTO of Tilli Kids, and Senior AI Advisor to the UN, said the growing capabilities of AI systems increase the importance of responsible data management and governance.
“AI is shifting from answering questions to taking actions, reading inboxes, moving money, and making decisions on our behalf. A chatbot that mishandles data is a privacy problem. An agent with broad permissions and weak governance is a security problem, with mistakes propagating through real systems at machine speed. Companies that clearly show how they protect data, use it, and govern what their AI is allowed to do will have a meaningful advantage in earning long-term trust,” says Dr. Wijesundara
Security Scores Lag Behind Organizational Transparency
The comparatively low average security score stands out as AI applications become more deeply integrated into workplace systems and business operations.
Voldemaras Kadys, a member of the AI Trustworthiness Ranking Advisory Board and Head of Security and Platform Engineering at Mediatech, the digital publishing house behind Cybernews, said companies’ approaches to security and privacy can directly influence customer confidence.
“AI tools can have access to huge amounts of sensitive user and business data, so companies need to be clear about how they use, store, and share that data. They must also show that they have strong security measures in place to protect it. If a company isn’t transparent about its data practices, or suffers a security incident, it can quickly lose the trust of its customers – and that trust isn’t easy to win back,” says Kadys.
Data Privacy Analysis Finds Gaps in AI Training Disclosures
Cybernews examined the privacy policies of all 500 companies as part of the ranking’s Data Privacy pillar, assessing how clearly businesses explain the collection, use, sharing and retention of user information.
According to the analysis, 63% of the companies assessed do not clearly disclose whether user data is used to train their AI models. Cybernews reported that 42% do not address the use of customer data for AI training in their privacy policies, while another 21% provide information it characterized as vague.
The assessment identified similar shortcomings around data retention. Cybernews found that 65% of the companies do not clearly state how long they retain user information.
Of the companies evaluated, 9% did not address retention or deletion in their policies, according to the analysis. Another 56% referred to data retention without specifying precise retention periods.
AI Data Practices Face Growing Scrutiny
The findings come as AI providers compete for business and consumer adoption while facing increased scrutiny over how their systems collect, process and protect information.
Cybernews’ ranking places security and data privacy alongside organizational transparency and public perception to provide a broader assessment of trustworthiness across the expanding AI industry.
As AI tools increasingly handle sensitive personal and corporate information, the ranking indicates that clear data practices, stronger security measures and organizational transparency could become increasingly important factors for businesses and consumers evaluating AI providers.
