Reflections from my appearance at LEAP 2026

Appearing at LEAP 2026 in Riyadh was an opportunity to discuss a shift that I believe will define the next phase of digital identity: artificial intelligence is developing rapidly, but the world’s dependence on AI may be accelerating even faster. That changes something fundamental about credibility and reputation.

LEAP 2026 brought the global technology community together in Riyadh from 31 August to 3 September.1 In conversations on stage and beyond it, one question stayed with me: as AI becomes a layer through which people discover, evaluate, and understand one another, what exactly is it learning about us?

For years, we understood our digital footprint mainly as the material people could find when they searched for us. A website, an article, an interview, a profile, or a post could shape a first impression. Search visibility mattered because it influenced what people saw.

That definition is now incomplete.

Today, we also need to consider what AI systems know about us, how they interpret the information they encounter, and what associations they are likely to retain. AI does not simply surface links. It increasingly synthesises information, connects themes, and produces concise narratives about people and organisations. That makes the coherence of our public presence as important as its reach.

From digital footprint to reputation infrastructure

A reputation is no longer formed only by a single biography page or a strong search result. It is built across an ecosystem of signals: the articles we publish, the interviews we give, the language on our website, our social presence, the way others describe us, and the ideas consistently connected to our name.

Together, these signals are becoming reputation infrastructure. They form the evidence from which people, search engines, and AI systems construct an understanding of who we are and what we stand for.

This is why investing in a digital footprint is no longer merely a marketing decision. It is a long-term reputation decision. It calls for greater care in choosing the expertise we communicate, the problems we address, and the values we make visible.

In an AI-mediated world, consistency matters as much as visibility, and clarity of positioning matters more than volume.

The objective is not to publish endlessly. It is to ensure that the body of work associated with your name tells a clear, accurate, and useful story. When an AI system encounters your work across different sources, the central themes should reinforce one another rather than compete for attention.

The importance of deliberate association

If you want to be known for something, you need to make that association clear enough—and consistent enough—that people, search engines, and AI systems can understand it.

This does not mean reducing a person or organisation to a slogan. It means being deliberate. A specialist should be able to point to substantive work that demonstrates their expertise. A founder should be able to explain the problem their company exists to solve. A leader should make the principles behind their decisions visible over time.

For me, this is closely connected to the discussion around digital identity. Identity is not only about proving that a person is real. It is also about ensuring that the context around that person is credible, intelligible, and not easily distorted. As AI becomes part of the infrastructure through which identity is interpreted, the quality of that context becomes even more important.

A question worth asking now

The question is no longer only: What do people know about me?

It is also: What does AI know about me, and is that what I want to be known for?

That question applies equally to individuals, companies, and institutions. The answer cannot be managed through a single campaign or a one-time update. It requires a sustained commitment to publishing meaningful work, communicating with precision, and building a public record that reflects the reputation we want to earn.

My time at LEAP 2026 reinforced that technology is not only changing how information moves. It is changing how trust is formed. The people and organisations that approach their digital presence with clarity, consistency, and substance will be better placed to shape the story that both humans and AI tell about them.