People are taking AI misinformation at face value. So, what can brands do about it? 

One of the more remarkable, and worrying, developments with AI is the willingness of people to take its answers at face value, without checking the sources of where the information came from. Even when people think information is false, if it aligns with their view of the world, if it reaffirms their beliefs, they will buy into it, share it, and run down a rabbit hole of similar content. 

The tendency to believe misinformation is nothing new. In fact, it goes back millenia. The difference is the innate ease, shareability and reach of misinformation with social media and AI. In particular, the fact AI mimics human conversation and is anthropomorphised in the media makes it feel like a machine endowed with human intelligence and therefore a source of reputability. But therein lies the danger. 

What’s this got to do with tech PR? Well, it’s all interlinked. There’s the looming threat of misinformation about a brand and/or its leader(s), often from AI models hallucinating and summarising information incorrectly. And then there’s the misinformation brands/leaders put out there themselves, typically unintentionally, but resulting from a misinformed strategy. 

PR, misinformation and a void of fact-checking

Given people’s propensity to take information as fact without fact-checking it themselves, brand misinformation can spread like wildfire. Without a PR function, that misinformation will remain unaddressed and prevail; more importantly, companies might not even be aware of it or have the ability to counteract it, accruing reputational damage that impacts their bottom line. 

Then there’s ‘self-inflicted’ misinformation. One common pitfall is brands re-sharing false facts in content, often by mistake – the very essence of how misinformation propagates. A few years ago I came across a stat saying nurses spend a third of their time looking for equipment daily, one repeated by several articles. But when I found the original source, I discovered it was actually that one-third of nurses spend an hour looking for equipment each day. A small change but a completely different meaning.

It might seem fairly innocuous, but every distortion of the truth has an impact on the information ecosystem. Content sets expectations, and when those expectations aren’t met, a brand or its product can lose impact. So, while it might be tempting to publish bold claims to attract eyeballs and clicks, sharing misleading information can really damage brand reputation. 

When fake news becomes a PR opportunity 

While misinformation poses a major challenge for companies, addressing false narratives can also be a core PR tactic. In the same way a PR hoax can generate awareness, for example, so too can outing a hoax. With this perspective, misinformation actually creates a golden opportunity for content. 

Let’s say a stat is circling around your sector claiming wildly overestimated capabilities for a piece of tech you know aren’t achievable. In response, you could pen an opinion piece outlining how this is unequivocally wrong, or pitch a comment to a journalist offering an alternative viewpoint, who might be looking for comments on the story. You could even simply reply to a post on LinkedIn. If your messaging is tight, these can all be timely responses. 

Above all, the stories and news that are genuine, the ones that prove real-world impact, will drive leads and value over the short and long term – they also help to provide a more accurate data source for AI models to pull from. Those that turn out to be unfounded are ‘flash in the pan’ moments that lose credibility (unless they are creative and purposeful stunts). Just look at how the Brewdog CEO, who suffered a dramatic fall from grace, wished he had had better PR advisors and remained authentic. 

PR’s leading role in confronting misinformation

The scale of misinformation has become an ever-growing challenge for PR teams. And changing someone’s beliefs can be a tall order. But many people are highly influenced by brands and leaders too, especially when it comes to looking for products that can make their lives and work better. They make choices based on who they admire, respect and whose insights open up their perspectives, something that can be established by tackling sector misinformation. 

It’s hard to know how many people are genuinely influenced by misinformation. And the truth is some misinformation will simply persist. But the best response for brands and leaders is to put out their own, genuine version of events and messaging. Credible, impactful and authoritative PR has a larger role to play in the tale of misinformation than it might first appear.