{"id":134490,"date":"2025-04-21T03:35:03","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T03:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/musk-and-ai-among-biggest-threats-to-brand-reputation-global-survey-shows-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2025-04-21T03:35:03","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T03:35:03","slug":"musk-and-ai-among-biggest-threats-to-brand-reputation-global-survey-shows-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/musk-and-ai-among-biggest-threats-to-brand-reputation-global-survey-shows-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Musk and AI among biggest threats to brand reputation, global survey shows – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

In appraisal, international public affairs leaders warned companies about aligning with \u2018polarizing\u2019 Trump ally
Associating with the Donald Trump<\/a> administration\u2019s multibillionaire adviser Elon Musk<\/a> and misusing artificial intelligence<\/a> are among the most surefire ways for companies to damage their brands, a new survey of more than 100 international public affairs leaders found.
Those findings stem from an appraisal<\/a> conducted by the Global Risk Advisory Council, which was chaired by the head of the US Small Business Administration during Joe Biden\u2019s presidency, Isabel Guzman.
In a statement, Brett Bruen of the Global Situation Room, the Washington DC-based public affairs firm that commissioned the survey, said the council\u2019s \u201creputation risk index\u201d contains an \u201cunambiguous warning\u201d for chief executive officers. \u201cIf you squander stakeholder and consumer goodwill on these issues, it won\u2019t be coming back anytime soon,\u201d said Bruen, before calling on companies to \u201cslow down\u201d and \u201cmake a distinction between transitory and tectonic transitions\u201d.
Nearly 30% of people in a 117-member group hailing from 17 countries and 58 industries \u2013 among them former heads of state and US officials \u2013 indicated that aligning oneself with Musk, or being targeted by him, generated the strongest likelihood possible of being thrust under heightened scrutiny.
The world\u2019s richest person \u2013 whose holdings include the aerospace company SpaceX, the electrical vehicle manufacturer Tesla and the social media platform X \u2013 donated part of his wealth to Trump\u2019s successful run for a second presidency in November. After Trump returned to the Oval Office in January, Musk has overseen brutal federal budget and staffing cuts overseen by the president\u2019s so-called \u201cdepartment of government efficiency\u201d (Doge), giving him what Guzman has described as a \u201ccontroversial omnipresence in the media landscape\u201d.
That observation falls in line with some public opinion polling that has suggested<\/a> strong disapproval of the work Musk has done for Trump. A Quinnipiac University survey released in March showed that 60% of voters look down on the way that the businessman and Doge \u201care dealing with workers employed by the federal government\u201d. Stock in Tesla slumped<\/a> amid the backlash. And there were subsequently reports that Musk would gradually shift away from his prominent place within the Trump administration<\/a>.
\u201cThe impact of association with influential figures in today\u2019s heavily divided environment cannot be understated, especially with a deeply polarizing leader like \u2026 Musk,\u201d Guzman wrote in a summary of the index\u2019s findings.
Yet an even greater threat to brands were earning stories that feature \u201ccreating deepfakes, misinformation, biased decision-making or unethical applications that cause harm or manipulate public perception\u201d, the survey said. Attracting that kind of coverage was reportedly viewed \u201cas the most likely to gain negative online news attention\u201d, the survey added.
An unnamed council member reportedly said: \u201cAI, if not understood or managed in companies, can have an incredible trickle-down effect that may not be reversible.\u201d One of the group\u2019s experts noted that organizations these days need to regard AI policies as equally standard to those that account for more mundane aspects of their operations.
Rolling back diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives aiming \u201cto ensure fair treatment and full participation for all individuals\u201d was labeled brands\u2019 third top risk. The Trump administration has aggressively moved to eliminate such measures within the government, military and beyond, including at Harvard, where the White House recently axed more than $2bn in federal research funding<\/a> after the university refused to end DEI programs, one of several demands from the president.
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Anticompetitive practices and facing allegations of defamation round out the top five reputational risks flagged by the first edition of a survey planned for quarterly publication.
\u201cThis data is not just numbers; it indicates the complex communications challenges facing organizations constantly,\u201d wrote Guzman, adding the committee\u2019s members suspect that reputational threats are bound to only escalate in the short term.
Other members of the council that produced the survey include Iceland\u2019s former foreign affairs minister Th\u00f3rd\u00eds Kolbr\u00fan Reykfjord Gylfad\u00f3ttir; Bank of Ireland public affairs head Paul O\u2019Brien; DoorDash\u2019s global head of public affairs Taylor Bennett; American Association of Exporters and Importers president Eugene Laney; and Maria Toler, the founder of SteelSky Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on women\u2019s healthcare.<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In appraisal, international public affairs leaders warned companies about aligning with \u2018polarizing\u2019 Trump allyAssociating with the Donald Trump administration\u2019s multibillionaire adviser Elon Musk and misusing artificial intelligence are among the most surefire ways for companies to damage their brands, a new survey of more than 100 international public affairs leaders found.Those findings stem from an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":134491,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}