Corporate affairs professionals say their organisations are unprepared for crises caused by AI misinformation, according to a new study.

The annual Oxford-Globescan Corporate Affairs survey finds that 43% of those polled globally believe they lack preparation to deal with a crisis caused by AI misinformation. Among those in consumer products, the figure runs as high as 62%.

As a risk, AI was second only to geopolitical uncertainty as the leading worry for corporate affairs, with 76% of those included in the survey saying it was among their biggest concerns.

Rupert Younger, director of the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation, said: “The weaponisation of economic forces for political purposes has become one of the most challenging and defining themes for the profession this year.”

The report adds: “Geoeconomics driven by national interests in the face of new and continuing wars and deeper East-West tensions is shifting the ways in which businesses, policymakers and consumers view and plan for the future.”

When it comes to AI, the report notes it has overtaken climate change and macroeconomic worries as a concern for corporate affairs. Indeed, the number of corporate affairs people who identify AI as a risk to global business has gone from 19% in 2024 to 44% in 2026.

Climate appears to have lessened as a concern, going from 44% in 2024 to 19% this year.

ESG factors

Concern about climate remains the top issue among ESG factors, according to the survey, but “governance” is becoming more important.

Increasingly, the report notes, governance is viewed as the “primary source of reputational vulnerability”.

“Taken together,” the report notes, “these shifts suggest a recalibration rather than a rejection of ESG concerns.

“Climate remains important, but governance-related issues, particularly those linked to compliance, oversight and regulatory exposure, are becoming more pressing as organisations operate in more contested and fast-moving political and economic environments.”

Perhaps one of the most significant shifts uncovered by the report is what seems like a decline in the importance of corporate purpose. Though 82% report having a formal corporate purpose, that is down from 91% last year and below 2020 levels.

The “cooling” of interest in purpose is “especially evident” in North America. Survey respondents reported political context, a lack of an integrated plan, and organisational complexity as the “primary hurdles” to having a standing purpose.