If a video of an employee stealing from a customer’s home or breaking property circulated online, your company would have a reputational crisis. Usually, bad reviews or pictures of improper installments come from unhappy customers who snapped a picture with their phone and uploaded a bad review.

That’s hard enough for companies to overcome. But just imagine if fake photos and videos appeared to show an employee breaking the law and it went viral on social media.  

With the advancement of AI technology, any business or individual can be the victim of a deepfake attack launched from anywhere in the world. Even if it’s an obvious fake, by the time leaders get proof of their innocence, the company’s reputation could be permanently damaged. 

 Deepfakes are AI-generated images, videos and audio files that are created using simple AI tools found online. Deepfakes can be extremely dangerous, and in the PHCP industry, they might take the form of phony reviews, alleged safety violations or to frame someone of improper or illegal activity.

AI-generated deepfake videos, photos and audio files can spread misinformation very fast. Misinformation can be very damaging to a company’s reputation, especially in the PHCP industry where word of mouth and customer referrals are a main pipeline for business.  

Technology is evolving and new AI tools are being introduced to the public every day. Anyone who has access to a computer and the internet can make a deepfake, often for free. In fact, deepfakes can be created in minutes and shared even faster, making it easy for someone like a disgruntled employee or a competitor to launch an attack.

As AI evolves and new business threats arise, business leaders need to prepare for deepfake threats. Below are strategies companies can implement to protect leaders and the business:

AI Detection Tools

When a crisis hits, customers and clients need reassurance that they can trust your company. Leaders need to be able to prove that the deepfake is false. This is especially important for plumbing and HVAC companies that depend on customer trust for business continuity and success. 

If a deepfake attack happens, your company must be able to verify that the deepfake is not real. It’s more likely that people will believe your company if the deepfake is verified as false from a third-party source. Create partnerships with third-party AI experts whom you can reach out to if needed. This is a pivotal step in the deepfake crisis response that should not be ignored. 

A list of companies or experts that you can reach out to if you need help identifying whether AI media is real or not should be included in your crisis response plan. This is a key step as you may need to quickly access the contacts of AI experts in order to disprove the deepfake as fast as possible before it spreads further. 

Engage third-party AI experts to assure stakeholders and maintain trust.

Add AI experts to your crisis playbook.

Prepare to quickly counter misinformation.

Train Staff to ID Deepfakes

Employees may be the first to recognize that misinformation about a company is being spread on social channels. Part of an employee’s job should be to help protect it against negative perception. Taking time to prepare your employees to respond to a crisis will help your company better control the narrative of the crisis from the start. 

Educate your employees and provide them with a step-by-step process that they should follow if they believe they have seen a deepfake that negatively affects the company.

This step-by-step process should be noted in the company’s crisis communication playbook and communicated verbally to employees.

The first step on the list needs to cover reporting the deepfake to company management so that they can put the crisis playbook plan into action and disprove the deepfake. Remember that media spreads fast and employees need to act quickly so leadership can spring into action before a deepfake is spread too far.  

Contractors need to continue learning and preparing for AI threats to protect themselves, their employees, their customers and their businesses. It will help them stay competitive and show the company’s commitment to prioritizing customer trust and loyalty. In addition, technology will continue to evolve making it crucial for companies to show that they are evolving too. To truly embrace technology companies must use it to both enhance internal operations and prepare for possible threats. 

Conduct regular training sessions to ensure readiness.

Stay updated on technological threats and continuously improve defenses.

By staying proactive and prepared, HVAC and piping companies can effectively counter the threat of deepfakes.

Create a Crisis Playbook

Every company should have a crisis playbook ready in case an incident happens. A crisis playbook or emergency plan is a prepared guide that leaders can use to make quick decisions when every second counts.

This playbook should include a step by step action plan that serves as a roadmap to ensure all stakeholders are notified, communication is streamlined, and nothing gets forgotten. 

During a crisis, it’s easy to get distracted and companies need all their leaders to be aligned. Having a playbook will help everyone know what to do, and when to do it. It can also be critical in helping employees take appropriate action when the boss is unavailable.  

Every crisis playbook should be designed around the company’s biggest concerns. This includes a plan of action to address a wide range of deepfake threats. Examples could include a video that shows employees causing damage to a customer’s property, a photo showing unsafe practices, or an executive phone call containing a racist rant. 

For each scenario, consider how company leaders should respond immediately upon learning of the incident. We tell our clients to talk to their employees and calm their fears. Employees are often on the front lines, answering calls from customers, partners, and key stakeholders so they need to be reassured that leaders are doing everything they can to fix the problem. 

Every crisis playbook should also have pre-written statements prepared for each scenario. One that would go to customers, another that might go to the media if needed. For businesses that rely heavily on positive reviews and a strong reputation, having the right words ready to go will be an important part of showing a company’s innocence. 

Make sure to keep messaging simple. Clarify your responses around a few core message points from which all statements and actions will revolve. Make sure that there are prepared responses ready so you can quickly send them to stakeholders and employees.

Do not forget to choose a company spokesperson. When a crisis happens, people need to have a spokesperson to trust that they can look to for guidance or direct questions to. If the crisis happens, you’ll be thankful that you prepared in advance. 

• Identify potential crises and develop step-by-step response instructions.

•Assign a spokesperson and plan stakeholder notifications.

• Prepare statements to quickly address incidents.

Josh Weiss is president/founder of 10to1PR, a strategic communications firm focused on helping clients grow positive brand awareness. With 25+ years of PR experience, Josh is an expert in crisis communications management. Download a free deepfake crisis communications preparation guide at 10to1pr.com/deepfakes or email him at Josh@10to1PR.com