FTI Consulting AI Reputation Monitor 2025: What Does ChatGPT Say about DAX40 Companies?
Download a PDF of this articleAn Analysis of how Large Language Models Shape the Reputation of DAX40 Companies and Their CEOs
AI Reputation Monitor 2025: Why this Study?
Google is no longer necessarily the first stop when you want to know what a company stands for. Instead, people are increasingly turning to ChatGPT-4o and other large AI language models (LLMs). This is a real paradigm shift, given that search engines have for decades been the undisputed destination for research.
The Difference Is Fundamental
Large AI language models are establishing themselves as a new information authority. In addition, they don’t merely provide hit lists but narratives. Information that is then generated about companies and their CEOs can influences the perceptions, assessments, and decisionmaking of investors, talents, journalists, as well as other stakeholders.
From Information to Interpretation
AI models might reduce complexity, as well as weigh and evaluate. They filter information algorithmically, prioritize content and thus create a new form of publicity and visibility. What can emerge may not be a full reflection of current facts, but a contextual interpretation.
FTI Consulting has systematically analyzed how the DAX40 companies as well as their CEOs are being represented by ChatGPT (for more information on the methodology and sample applied in this study, please see page 14).
The report shows that representations vary significantly in terms of quality, tonality, and subject. The analysis reveals potential reputational risks, as well as unexpected opportunities. Additionally, it identifies what companies need to do now to manage any reputational risks that may emerge.
*Online survey of 551 institutional investors based in the US, Europe, and the Middle East, conducted between November 21 and December 12, 2024.
Key insights
83 percent of DAX40 companies have at least one reputational risk that is present in AI-powered search results. The good news is that 17 percent of companies have no apparent risk in AI responses. We can learn from them how to make it work.
The portrayal of DAX40 CEOs in ChatGPT has a direct impact on the AI reputation of the companies – in over half of the cases, a negative one. CEOs can also have a specifically positive impact on corporate image.
Outdated or long-refuted negative reports continue to resurface in generative AI responses. Many of the negative incidents cited in the responses occurred more than twelve months ago but they continue to influence perceptions.
High-quality media as well as corporate websites dominate the database for ChatGPT responses relating to DAX40 companies. LinkedIn also plays a crucial role for CEOs. All sources that were cited had one thing in common: good machine readability.
Companies can actively shape their portrayal in ChatGPT. There are four fields of action: targeted media relations, content related to leadership and purpose, transparency about mistakes, and the introduction of new routines such as prompt reputation checks.
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The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and not necessarily the views of FTI Consulting, its management, its subsidiaries, its affiliates, or its other professionals.
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