A new global survey has identified two of the fastest ways for companies to damage their brand reputation: associating with Elon Musk and mishandling artificial intelligence.
The findings come from the latest Reputation Risk Index, a report published by the Global Risk Advisory Council — a group chaired by former U.S. Small Business Administration head Isabel Guzman. The survey, which gathered insights from 117 senior public affairs leaders spanning 17 countries and 58 industries, offers a clear warning for executives navigating today’s turbulent media landscape.
In a statement, Brett Bruen, president of the Washington, D.C.-based consultancy Global Situation Room, which commissioned the report, called the index “an unambiguous warning.” Bruen urged CEOs to rethink their pace of change and distinguish “transitory trends from tectonic shifts” to avoid eroding public trust.
One of the more striking revelations: nearly 30% of respondents cited aligning with Musk — or being targeted by him — as a direct trigger for reputational risk. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO’s increasingly controversial public profile, combined with his close ties to the Trump administration, has placed brands and business leaders on high alert.
Following Musk’s financial support of Trump’s successful return to the presidency last November, his influence grew even further through his reported oversight of the administration’s budget-cutting “Department of Government Efficiency” (Doge). Guzman noted that Musk’s “controversial omnipresence in the media landscape” only heightened the potential for reputational fallout.
That concern is supported by recent public opinion polls. A March survey from Quinnipiac University revealed that 60% of voters disapprove of how Musk and the Doge department have handled federal workforce decisions. The backlash even sent Tesla’s stock tumbling, with rumors swirling that Musk may gradually step back from his direct involvement in Trump’s White House.
“The impact of association with influential figures in today’s heavily divided environment cannot be understated, especially with a deeply polarizing leader like Musk,” Guzman wrote in her summary of the findings.
But even Musk’s name couldn’t outshine AI misuse when it comes to brand damage.
According to the report, the most severe reputational risk comes from stories involving artificial intelligence gone wrong — especially those featuring deepfakes, misinformation, biased decision-making, or unethical AI applications that cause real-world harm.
One unnamed council member warned:
“AI, if not understood or managed in companies, can have an incredible trickle-down effect that may not be reversible.”
The council stressed that organizations must treat AI governance and ethical frameworks as essential components of modern business strategy — no different from their financial or cybersecurity policies.
The report also identified additional top risks to brand integrity:
- Rolling back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives ranked as the third most damaging move for reputation. The Trump administration’s aggressive efforts to defund DEI programs, including a headline-grabbing decision to cut more than $2 billion in federal research funds from Harvard, has raised alarms among corporate reputation experts.
- Anticompetitive behavior and defamation lawsuits rounded out the top five threats.
Guzman concluded her analysis with a stark prediction:
“This data is not just numbers; it signals the complex communications challenges organizations now face — and those risks are likely to intensify.”
The Global Risk Advisory Council, which plans to release this survey quarterly, includes high-profile members such as former Icelandic foreign affairs minister Thórdís Kolbrún Reykfjord Gylfadóttir, Bank of Ireland’s Paul O’Brien, DoorDash global public affairs head Taylor Bennett, and American Association of Exporters and Importers president Eugene Laney.
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