Building credibility with AI making anyone sound like an expert.

Davos 2026 boiled down to two letters: AI. It dominated every conversation, on and off stage. Panel discussions, private events, hallway exchanges, it all circled back to artificial intelligence. What caught my attention was the talk around trust.

Call it occupational hazard. As someone who helps executives build strategic reputation, I am attuned to shifts in how credibility is earned and lost. Right now, we are facing a fundamental challenge: as AI scales by the day, trust becomes even harder to build and much easier to lose.

The technology can generate polished content, mimic expertise, and produce insights that sound authoritative. So how do you actually build credibility when everyone can sound like an expert?

It comes down to five things that AI cannot replicate.

Know what makes you different.

Your credentials do not differentiate you anymore. Neither do your years of experience. What matters is what you believe that others do not, and what you have learned that shaped how you see problems.

This is not about manufacturing a unique selling proposition, but understanding your own perspective deeply enough to articulate it clearly. The executives who build lasting credibility are not the ones with the most impressive résumés. They are the ones who have a point of view and can defend it.

Own something specific.

When you try to be relevant to everyone, you speak to no one. Generalists are forgettable while specialists are sought after.

This does not mean narrowing your expertise to the point of irrelevance. It means going deep enough in something specific that people think of you first when that topic comes up. It means being willing to say "that is not my area" when it is not, and being the definitive voice when it is.

Depth creates credibility in ways that breadth never will.

Think in public.

Most professionals share polished insights. They post finished thoughts, complete analyses, tidy conclusions. It is safe, professional, it is also forgettable.

What builds credibility is letting people see how you think. Share your perspective, not just your conclusions. Let people see how you connect ideas, what questions you are wrestling with, where you are still figuring things out.

This requires a certain comfort with being in process rather than having all the answers. It requires authenticity and it is increasingly rare, which makes it valuable.

Show up where it counts.

Your audience is not just on LinkedIn. They are reading specific publications, listening to particular podcasts, attending certain conferences, and gathering in communities you might not even know exist.

Find out where they are and show up there. That does not mean being everywhere, it means being strategic.

Build a network that vouches for you.

Reputation is what others say when you are not in the room. It is what people who have worked with you, learned from you, or trusted you say when someone asks about you.

This takes time and requires investing in relationships without expecting immediate return. It means being generous with your knowledge, reliable in your commitments, and thoughtful in how you engage with others.

The executives with the strongest reputations are the ones other people want to talk about.

The bottom line.

AI can work wonders. It can draft content, analyse data, and generate insights faster than any human. Yet it cannot replace your judgement, perspective, or the years of experience that shape how you solve problems.

How you use AI matters more than whether you use it. The choice is whether to use it in ways that amplify what makes you credible or in ways that make you sound like everyone else.

Building credibility with AI now.

As AI continues to scale, the leaders who will stand out are the ones who understand that building credibility with AI is not built by sounding impressive. It is built by being genuinely different, strategically visible, and consistently valuable to the people who matter.

Trust takes years to build and seconds to lose. Make sure the tools you use work with you, not against you.