If AI Is Your First Audience, Trust Is Your Only Currency
Carolina G. Azevedo, UN Development Coordination Office Chief of Communications and Results Reporting, explores how the UN is reshaping its digital presence as AI models increasingly affect how and which content is discovered.
Most of what we produce today will never be read by a human first.
It will be scanned, sorted and interpreted by machines, and what they extract will increasingly shape what others see, understand and act upon.
Shuwei Fang of Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy observes that we are no longer communicating only with people, with several institutions still grappling with this transformation.
For the United Nations, this shift affects how the organization is perceived and trusted in today’s complex environment.
We are increasingly communicating with machines.
AI models now scan, summarise and synthesise vast volumes of information before it reaches human audiences. What the algorithm involved in that process can—or cannot—identify shapes the information that becomes visible, credible and actionable.
Content that is not structured or accessible to these systems risks becoming obsolete, not because it lacks value, but because it cannot be effectively processed.
At the same time, we are seeing a growing shift towards fast-moving, highly visual, short-form content that engages humans. Audiences are skimming, searching, watching and listening in a saturated information environment.
Together, these trends are redefining how public information creates value.
As Fang argues, we may be moving beyond an “attention economy” towards an “intention economy,” where the competition is no longer only for what people see, but for what they seek, trust and ultimately act upon.
Institutions must now operate in two directions simultaneously:
- communicating with people through clarity, relevance and trust
- ensuring that information is structured and accessible for digital systems
Those able to do both will be better positioned to inform and shape how information is understood and used.
From content to systems: a UN 2.0 response
Within the United Nations system, these shifts are beginning to shape how digital presence is understood under the Secretary General’s UN 2.0 vision.
At the UN Development Coordination Office (DCO), this has meant moving beyond content production to focus on information architecture: how data, narratives and platforms work together to support visibility, credibility and use.
A deliberate shift has begun:
From publishing content to building systems.
From storytelling alone to integrating data, narrative and behavioural insight.
From standalone websites to interconnected digital ecosystems.
This is what UN 2.0 is beginning to look like in practice.
Grounding the shift in real user behaviour
This transformation has not been driven by technology alone.
It has been grounded in a deliberate effort to understand how people engage with UN content today.
Across the Resident Coordinator system, we analysed feedback and usage patterns from nearly 17,000 users interacting with over 130 UN country websites in 33 languages.
The findings were consistent:
- Users do not navigate content linearly
- They search for specific answers rather than browse reports
- They expect clarity, speed and relevance
- They increasingly encounter UN content through intermediaries, including search engines, platforms and AI tools
User behaviour is therefore already aligned with a broader shift: information is filtered, summarised and surfaced before it is fully read.
This reinforces a critical point:
It is no longer enough to publish information.
It must be structured, discoverable and usable in the environments where people—and machines—encounter it.
Clarity for machines and for people
An important lesson is emerging.
Designing for how machines process information often leads to clearer communication for people.
It requires:
- reducing jargon
- simplifying structure
- making meaning explicit
These are not only technical requirements; they are essential to effective communication in complex information environments.
Early signals before the full transition
This transformation is ongoing.
The full shift in systems and architecture has not yet been completed. However, early signals are already emerging.
Following initial changes in how content is structured, connected and surfaced, there are clear indications of increased reach and engagement across digital ecosystems:
- 27 million views across UN country websites in 2025
- A nearly 25 per cent increase in page views and close to 54 per cent increase in users on the DCO website year-on-year
- More than 30 per cent increase in impressions and a 110 per cent increase in followers across UN Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG) social media channels
These results reflect multiple factors, but they indicate a clear direction: content that is structured, connected and user-centred performs more effectively across both human and machine-mediated environments.
This is fundamentally about influence and about reinforcing trust in an increasingly complex information ecosystem.
Why this matters for development
This shift is not only technical; it is strategic.
In a complex and contested information environment:
- Development results must be visible and accessible to inform decision-making
- Credible information must be positioned effectively to counter misinformation
- Evidence must be usable across systems that influence policy, financing and public understanding
The Resident Coordinator system plays a central role in connecting global commitments with tangible country-level results and action. Strengthening digital ecosystems supports this function.
Looking ahead at a shared opportunity
In an era of rapidly evolving technologies and increasing volumes of synthetic content, trusted, verifiable information is a global public good.
The United Nations system, with its global presence and impact on people's lives, grounded in country-level evidence, is uniquely positioned to respond. The UN should, and is increasingly expected to, serve as an authenticity engine, anchoring information in verified data, real-world results and human oversight. The organization is also expected to ensure that trusted, globally representative evidence remains visible and usable. As machines increasingly mediate what people see and what they seek, the ability to ensure that credible, evidence-based information is not only available but also influential becomes essential.
In this context, acting as an authenticity engine is not solely a communications function. It is part of how trust is built and sustained in the age of AI.
That is where the next chapter of this work begins.
This blog was authored by Carolina G. Azevedo, UN Development Coordination Office Chief of Communications and Results Reporting.
