We caught up with Sarah Willis, founder of SABLR, Notable Profiles and our digital reputation and AI visibility partner, to find out how AI is quietly changing how reputation works online and how individuals and companies can better understand their digital profile today. So grab a cuppa and have a read. We promise it will get you thinking…!
For years, the way brands have thought about online reputation hasn’t really changed. From what appears on Google, what journalists are writing, what’s being said on social media and how visible positive versus negative coverage is.
But I think we’re entering a very different phase now, where AI is starting to shape perception before people even reach a company’s website. And I’m not sure enough businesses are talking about it yet.
The conversation around AI tends to focus heavily on productivity, content generation and efficiency. But one of the most interesting shifts happening is how AI tools are becoming interpreters of reputation.
People are increasingly asking tools like OpenAI ChatGPT or Google Gemini questions theymight once have typed into Google:
- “What is this company known for?”
- “Is this business reputable?”
- “What controversies has this person faced?”
- “What do people think about this brand?”
- “Who are the leaders in this industry?”
The difference is that instead of receiving a list of links, they receive a summarised answer,and that answer is often built from years of scattered digital information, which may not always be correct. This often includes:
- Old news coverage
- Reviews
- Forums
- Social discussions
- Executive bios
- Archived articles
- Public databases
- Reddit threads
- Wikipedia pages
This then creates an interesting challenge, because AI systems don’t necessarily prioritise the most recent or balanced version of a story. AI will prioritise what appears relevant and authoritative within the data available, which means older narratives can suddenly become visible again.
The Return of Old Narratives
One thing I think we’ll see more of over the next few years is what I’d describe as reputational resurfacing. A business that may have moved on from a difficult period years ago, a leadership issue may have been resolved and negative coverage may have disappeared from page one of Google, but AI systems can still pull it all back into visibility if they appear contextually relevant to the question being asked. That then changes how we think about digital footprint altogether.
- Historically, reputation management was often about visibility:
- Improving rankings
- Proactively building positive content managing media coverage
- Strengthening social presence
- But AI introduces another layer: interpretation. And interpretation is harder to control.
AI Is Becoming Part of the Decision-Making Process
This matters because AI tools are increasingly being used during early-stage research and decision-making. Potential employees use them, clients use them, Journalists use them, investors use them and procurement teams use them.
According to Gartner, traditional search engine usage is expected to decline significantly over the next few years as AI assistants become more embedded in how people access information. However, that doesn’t mean search disappears, but it does mean the route to perception is changing. Increasingly, organisations aren’t just being searched, they’re beingsummarised.
Why Digital Identity Suddenly Matters More
Another interesting shift is the growing importance of strong digital identity and executive visibility online. AI systems rely heavily on authority signals and publicly available information to form narratives.
If organisations or leadership teams have:
- Inconsistent profiles
- Outdated information
- Fragmented online presence
- Little trusted source visibility
- Limited thought leadership
… AI systems often attempt to fill in the gaps themselves, and that can create inaccurate, incomplete or overly simplified perceptions. I think this is one of the reasons we’ll see more organisations investing in clearer digital identity, stronger online credibility and more proactive reputation management over the next few years. Not from a vanity perspective, but from a trust and risk perspective.
Businesses Need to Think Differently About Reputation
I think this is where businesses will need to evolve their thinking and not in a panic-driven way, and not by trying to manipulate AI systems, but by understanding that consistency, credibility and context, which are becoming increasingly important online. Such as:
- Clear executive profiles.
- Trusted media coverage.
- Strong source credibility.
- Up-to-date information.
- Accurate business information.
- Thoughtful, visible expertise.
All of these things help shape how organisations are interpreted online, not just by people, but by machines, and while nobody can fully control how AI systems respond, businesses can absolutely be more proactive about the digital signals they’re putting into the world.
The Bigger Shift
What interests me most is that this feels much bigger than SEO. Search engines helped people find information. AI increasingly helps people form opinions. That’s a very different dynamic, and I suspect that over the next few years, conversations around reputation, visibility, trust and AI will become far more interconnected than they are today.
Because the challenge is no longer just: “What exists online about us?” It’s “What story is AI telling about us when we’re not in the room?”
With a background spanning corporate communications, social media, customer experience and digital reputation across global brands and regulated industries, Sarah specialises in helping organisations and high-profile individuals navigate the evolving relationship between online perception, executive visibility and emerging AI-driven reputational risk.
She is also the founder of Notable Profiles, a platform exploring verified digital identity, credibility and visibility online, and how trusted digital signals will increasingly shape reputation in AI-generated search and discovery environments.
