BPI’s 2026 Reputation Resilience Index Finds AI Is Accelerating Reputation Risk Across Industries
August 11, 2026
A trusted brand isn’t necessarily a protected brand. That’s the central finding of Bully Pulpit International’s (BPI) 2026 Reputation Resilience Index, a new multi-market study that finds traditional measures of corporate reputation tell only part of the story. While trust remains an important indicator of reputation, at a time of growing skepticism and the ever-present threat of AI-generated misinformation, companies with similar levels of trust can have dramatically different levels of resilience when faced with misinformation, reputational crises, and coordinated narrative attacks.
Based on research across more than 18,000 adults in the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany, the Index evaluated how 170 companies withstand 15 different reputational attacks, offering organizations a new way to understand and measure reputation risk in an increasingly complex information environment.
“In the AI era, trust alone is no longer enough. The real test is what happens when a brand gets hit: why are some companies given the benefit of the doubt while others are immediately assumed guilty?” said Andrew Bleeker, CEO of BPI. “The data is clear: companies need to define their leadership, priorities and role in society before others do it for them.”
The research finds that artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing the reputation landscape—both by making misinformation easier to spread and by shaping how consumers evaluate corporate behavior.
Among the key findings:
- 81% agree AI makes it too easy to spread false rumors about companies.
- Only 15% feel truly capable of detecting AI-generated content.
- 65% believe companies use AI as an excuse to cut workforces and increase profits
Across all four markets, corporate greed narratives posed the greatest reputational risk. Companies in every sector were vulnerable to attacks centered on CEO-to-employee pay gaps, AI-driven job cuts and “greedflation”—using inflation as an excuse to raise prices.
“Concerns about corporate greed and the impact of AI are shaping reputation risk across every industry, not just technology,” said Danny Franklin, BPI Partner. “Traditional measures like trust are part of the story but increasingly can’t predict on their own how 0 much damage a crisis will cause or how quickly a brand can rebound. The risks, both in nature and scale, are changing, and the way we evaluate and build reputational strength must change to keep up.”
Rather than measuring trust or favorability alone, the Reputation Resilience Index evaluates how well a company’s reputation holds up when challenged—helping organizations identify vulnerabilities before they become crises.
BPI is offering private briefings for organizations interested in exploring the research and discussing what the findings could mean for their reputation, communications and public affairs strategies. For more information or to request a briefing, contact resilience@bpigroup.com.
About the 2026 Reputation Resilience Index
BPI’s annual Reputation Resilience Index measures how organizations withstand misinformation and narrative attacks in today’s rapidly evolving information environment. The 2026 Index surveyed more than 18,000 adults across the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany and tested 15 reputational attacks against 170 companies to identify the factors that strengthen or weaken corporate reputation under pressure.
