Trust Anchors as Pillars of Humanistic Governance in AI-Driven Knowledge Management

As knowledge management systems increasingly rely on artificial intelligence, it becomes imperative to reassert the significance of human agency in shaping, guiding, and governing these technologies. This paper introduces the concept of Trust Anchors, a novel theoretical framework developed which identifies critical human touchpoints that stabilize and ethically ground AI-driven knowledge processes. Drawing from traditions in self-monitoring ethics, organizational culture, and social governance, Trust Anchors function as multi-level mechanisms that embed individual, organizational, and societal principles into AI systems enabling responsible intervention, contextual judgement, and alignment with human values. This paper proposes a humanistic stewardship governance approach to digital knowledge ecosystems by identifying the relationship between humans and machines. It contributes to the discourse on innovation of AI in KM by situating knowledge translation as a dynamic, relational process in which trust, culture, and care are essential for transformation and sustainable knowledge management.