How AI ChatGPT Can Damage Your Online Reputation
By Steven W. Giovinco, of Recover Reputation
The emergence of AI tools such as ChatGPT raises concerns about potential online reputation damage for small to mid-sized businesses, law firms, financial advisors, CEOs, and brands.
It’s not far-fetched to imagine a scenario where a carefully curated web presence might disappear or where poorly written AI-generated content harms one’s online presence.
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Online searches will undergo significant changes in the (near) future, with AI likely to play a major role. As a result, it’s essential to understand what ChatGPT is and how it works for brands, businesses and individuals.
ChatGPT draws on vast amounts of data from various sources, including Wikipedia, books, news articles, and scientific journals. While ChatGPT has promising results, there are concerns about its impact on online reputation.
For instance, poorly written AI-generated content could harm one’s web presence or lead to client dissatisfaction. Also, the search experience may change significantly, with traditional search engines being supplanted by AI-powered tools. It’s crucial for businesses to understand the potential risks and benefits of AI and to take steps to mitigate any negative impact on their online reputation.
What is the future outlook for AI and ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is expected to continue to operate as a standalone application, be available as a paid premium version, and be integrated into Microsoft’s search engine Bing and browser Edge.
The seamless integration of ChatGPT with internet search using Microsoft’s Edge browser could be a game-changer because it combines traditional internet search with AI.
How does ChatGPT differ from Google and Bing?
Unlike Google and Bing, ChatGPT generates text responses only and is not up-to-date as its AI engine stopped gathering information in 2021. It is great at providing precise information but is limited in offering a variety of choices. This limitation may negatively impact the online reputation management of businesses.
How does AI impact online reputation management and sales?
A positive web presence comprising expertly written articles or positive reviews is crucial in helping close deals. However, if nothing appears online or if negative information is present, clients may move on, regardless of personal connections. ChatGPT, can help businesses manage their online reputation by assisting with content creation and repackaging, providing 24/7 support, handling routine inquiries, answering basic questions, and analyzing customer responses. However, it can also lead to damage.
What is AI good at?
AI is excellent at seeking complex, factual answers on various topics, including finance, science, law, history, philosophy, and others. However, it may struggle with nuanced subjective opinions that are sometimes necessary when assessing a business or product.
Can AI-generated content negatively impact online reputation management?
While AI-generated content can be a helpful starting point, it requires significant rewriting to be useful to actual readers and benefit online reputation management. AI-generated content can lead to several problems:
- Wrong Results: AI-generated answers can be incorrect, leading to swift damage to a brand’s reputation since many people believe AI-generated answers are truthful.
- Negative Information: AI-generated content can produce negative, incorrect, or outdated information about a brand or business. This is a significant problem since Google search results can be corrected over time while AI-generated content is essentially locked and unchangeable.
- Poor Content: AI-written articles require significant rewriting. Copy-and-pasting content or slightly modifying results could easily exacerbate a bad web presence.
- Unethical Disclosure: As readers or clients discover AI-generated content, it could lead to online reputation damage. AI-generated content can be detected easily using many tools.
- AI-generated hate speech: AI is programmed to avoid controversy and offensive content, but it is not infallible. If an answer mistakenly or through manipulation results in hate speech associated with a brand, it can cause reputation damage.
Most importantly, however, AI-generated answers are limited and ignore brands, businesses, professionals, and individuals who could be more prominent. This means that customers and clients cannot find them, leading to lost business and missed opportunities.
While AI-generated content can be helpful, it requires significant rewriting to ensure that it is accurate, appropriate and aligned with a brand’s values and goals. AI search answers might ignore one’s brand completely with little recourse.
