Reputation in the age of AI: A nightmare? The choice is yours.

Do you have a worst nightmare? I mean a real WORST nightmare? Something that you know could happen to your business … your brand … and you hope it never does?

DALL-E prompt: Create an image of a computer screen on a desk, and the screen features an email inbox where every subject line is "WELCOME TO YOUR NIGHTMARE"

Of course you do. Who doesn’t?

So my first question is what have you done about it? Proactive crisis communications planning? Ready for the worst, just in case? About 49% of you are shaking your head yes. The other 51% are saying, “I really need to do that.” (Source: Forbes)

We can talk about that anytime—I’m always here to start that process with you.

But that’s not what today’s blog is about.

Today’s blog is about that nightmare coming to life. Your worst fears, coming to life. Things worse than you can imagine, coming to life. Why? Because bad actors have this new toy called ‘AI.’

They don’t need to hack you to tank your stock. Create doubt with your audience. Shake your employees’ confidence. They just need to write creative prompts. Because once it’s out there, it’s on you to fix it. Not them.

Reputation management has always been a love/hate prisoner-of-the-moment topic. You love it when you do it. Hate it when you don’t. And care when it matters. But reputation management in the age of AI? Well, we aren’t playing checkers. Or chess. We’re playing Dejarik. And we can’t let the Wookie win.

The encouraging part about this? While we may be playing a different game altogether, the rules, oddly, stay the same.

Your crisis communications playbook should be accounting for this, but if not, here’s the first step to take—and it’s a freebie: Monitor, monitor, monitor.

This was always a critical step. But now, monitoring matters more than ever. Here’s why:

	As I mentioned, you can dream up pretty much anything anymore.
	Just like problems, there is no shortage of people who may want to cause trouble for you.
	More people are using generative AI to search (v. traditional search engines).
	People aren’t vetting the results of what they find.

DALL-E prompt: Show a Whack-a-Mole game, with a sign above it that reads "WHACK-A-NIGHTMARE"

So back to that percentage breakdown in the beginning. Fewer than half of companies are ready for a crisis. That number drops significantly when it comes to being prepared for the impact AI will have on crisis readiness. In fact, according to a survey featured in Forbes, only 9% of companies are ready to manage risks posed by AI.

Is this blog meant to scare you? Get you a little worried about your reputation management program? Well … yes. Because if you know me, I don’t use fear as a motivator very often. This topic, however, is one that is screaming for your attention. 

Do I have it?

If you’re interested in the simple steps you can take to start building your reputation management program and start protecting your brand and your business, reach out to ben.brugler@akhia.com for consultation. (Requests from this blog are eligible for a reduced rate on the consultation.)