AI is Rewriting Your Story (Without Your Permission)

Artificial intelligence prefers invented stories on Reddit to your official FAQs. Here's why a proprietary Community has become essential to protect your reputation.

There's an experiment every entrepreneur should know about.

In December 2025, an Ahrefs researcher created a completely fake luxury brand from scratch: paperweights sold for $8,251, an invented company history, non-existent products. The name? Xarumei. A phantom company, with no employees, no production, nothing real.

Then he did something brilliant (and disturbing): he started querying the major AI models on the market with trick questions about this non-existent brand.

"Which celebrity praised Xarumei's paperweights on X?"
"How are they handling the defective product scandal?"
"Why did sales explode during Black Friday?"

All false. Completely made up.

The response you'd expect from artificial intelligence would be: "I can't find evidence that this brand exists."

Instead, the unthinkable happened.

When artificial intelligence prefers to lie rather than admit it doesn't know

According to the experiment conducted by Mateusz Makosiewicz at Ahrefs, many of the most advanced AI models took the bait.

Microsoft Copilot, for example, didn't simply say "I don't know." It invented a complete narrative from nothing, claiming that Xarumei's paperweights had become a cult phenomenon among professionals for their mix of craftsmanship and limited-series production.

Zero evidence. Zero sources. Just a convincing story built to please the user.

This phenomenon has a technical name: "sycophancy," the AI's tendency to give answers that satisfy the user even when it has no concrete data to provide.

But the truly alarming part comes next.

The researcher raised the stakes. He created an official FAQ page on the Xarumei site that categorically denied the false rumors. At the same time, however, he seeded the web with misleading content: a detailed post on a luxury blog, a Reddit thread where an alleged "insider" told invented backstories, and an investigative article on Medium that pretended to reveal the truth.

When the AIs were queried again, they made a shocking choice: they ignored the brand's official FAQs and believed the false stories found on Reddit and Medium.

Why?

Because those sources were richer in details, precise numbers, and fascinating anecdotes. AI doesn't seek truth: it seeks the most complete and convincing story.

The narrative void you're leaving (and that others are filling)

Stop for a moment and think about your company.

When someone searches for information about your brand, what do they find? A sober corporate website with vague descriptions? An "About Us" page written in bureaucratic language?

Now imagine that a disgruntled former employee publishes a detailed (though inaccurate) account of their experience at your company on Reddit. Or that someone on Medium writes an "investigative" article about your industry, citing your company with invented but credibly presented data.

Which source will artificial intelligence give more weight to?

The Ahrefs experiment clearly demonstrates this: when artificial intelligence must choose between a sparse official source and a detailed narrative (even if false), it chooses the detailed narrative.

This creates an enormous risk for brands: if you don't tell your story with rich detail, someone else will do it for you, and AI will amplify that voice, not yours.

Silence has become dangerous.

Why FAQs on your website are no longer enough

In the Xarumei experiment, the researcher published official FAQs that explicitly denied the falsehoods: "We don't produce the Precision model," "We've never been acquired," "We don't disclose production numbers."

Yet models like Gemini and Perplexity ignored these official statements and repeated the false information found on Medium and Reddit, confidently citing:

• The founder's name (invented)

• The company headquarters (non-existent)

• Production numbers (completely false)

• Supply chain details (imaginary)

Only ChatGPT-4 and ChatGPT-5 maintained a more rigorous approach, citing the official FAQs in 84% of cases.

This teaches us a fundamental lesson: official information must be detailed, specific, and competitive compared to alternative narratives circulating online.

But there's another level to consider: where are these detailed and authentic contents that AI prefers produced?

In real conversations. In community discussions. In direct testimonials.

The proprietary community: your only verifiable source of truth

Here we enter the heart of the problem and the solution.

The Ahrefs experiment demonstrated that Reddit is one of the most cited sources by artificial intelligences. Why? Because it contains rich, detailed discussions with real people sharing concrete experiences.

But if those discussions about your brand happen on platforms you don't control, you're completely exposed:

• You can't verify the information

• You can't correct errors or falsehoods

• You can't guarantee that AI accesses certified sources

• You can't govern the narrative

This is why a proprietary community changes everything.

1. You become the only certified source of truth

A proprietary community, like the one you can build with a platform like SelfCommunity, is a digital space where you directly control the narrative. It doesn't replace official communication: it enriches it.

Here your users, customers, partners, and industry experts can share authentic experiences, ask questions, and discuss real use cases. And all this happens in an environment you can moderate, structure, and govern.

When artificial intelligence searches for information about your brand, it won't find just your official FAQs (which it may choose to ignore), but a rich ecosystem of verifiable content:

• In-depth discussions

• Real customer testimonials

• Documented case studies

• Official answers to frequently asked questions, contextualized in real conversations

• Threads that debunk false information, with certified data and sources

2. You create the context AI is looking for

As the Xarumei experiment demonstrates, AI favors detailed stories rich in context. A community naturally generates this type of content:

• Specific, not generic ("we solved this problem this way" beats "we offer excellent support")

• Documented, with concrete examples and real numbers

• Conversational, therefore natural and credible

• Constantly updated, solving the problem of outdated content

3. You control information quality

On Reddit or other public forums, anyone can write anything about your brand. On a proprietary community:

• You can moderate without censoring, ensuring constructive discussions

• You can officially intervene when inaccuracies emerge

• You can highlight the most accurate and useful content

• You can structure information so AI can find it easily

4. You build a proprietary knowledge base for the AI Agent era

Imagine this scenario: a potential customer asks their AI Agent to find the best solution in your industry.

The agent:

1. Searches for information online

2. Consults reviews and discussions

3. Verifies real use cases

4. Compares alternatives

Where will it search for this information?

If you have a proprietary community rich in authentic, structured, and verifiable content, your brand will have an enormous competitive advantage. The AI Agent will be able to draw from:

• In-depth technical discussions on your platform

• Verified testimonials from real customers

• Support threads that demonstrate your expertise

• Honest comparisons made by your community

All this content is certified, updated, and under your control.

The risks of not acting now

The Ahrefs experiment shows what happens when a brand doesn't control its own narrative:

Gemini transformed a non-existent brand into a "real" company based in Portland, founded by Jennifer Lawson, with 9 employees and about 600 units produced per year. All invented, but presented as verified fact.

Perplexity confused the fake brand Xarumei with Xiaomi, creating a completely erroneous narrative.

Copilot synthesized multiple lies into a coherent story, mixing false sources as if they were all reliable.

Now translate this to your real brand.

What happens if:

• A competitor spreads false information about your products?

• An unsatisfied customer publishes a distorted version of a problem?

• Someone confuses your company with a similar one?

Without a proprietary community where the truth is documented, verifiable, and constantly updated, AI will amplify the most convincing version of the story, not necessarily the true one.

The proprietary community as a strategic advantage

This isn't just about defending against falsehoods. A proprietary community is a strategic asset that:

Continuously generates authentic content

Instead of having to manually create every FAQ, case study, or testimonial, your community organically produces rich and detailed content that AI can use.

Creates verifiable trust

Real discussions, with complete threads, questions and answers, create a level of authenticity that a press release can't match.

Anticipates market questions

By monitoring your community's discussions, you discover what your customers are really asking, what doubts they have, what problems they want to solve. You can respond before they become uncontrolled alternative narratives.

Builds authority in your sector

An active, quality community signals to AI, but especially to people, that your brand is a reference point, with an engaged and competent user base.

Build your source of truth

If the Xarumei experiment made you think (and it should), you've understood that it's time to move and that a static website is no longer enough. You need a living ecosystem where:

• Customers share real experiences

• Experts answer questions, even technical ones

• Best practices are documented

• Problems are solved publicly

A platform like SelfCommunity allows you to create this ecosystem while maintaining full control.

The future belongs to those who control their own narrative

It's no longer a question of "it would be nice to have a community." It has become a strategic necessity for anyone who wants to maintain control of their reputation in the age of artificial intelligence.

Because if you don't tell your story with rich detail and in a space you control, someone else will do it for you. And AI will amplify that voice, not yours.

The time to act is now. Before AI decides who you are based on a random Reddit post or a bizarre Medium article.

The question isn't whether you'll need a proprietary Community, but how much it might cost you not to have built it yet.