When AI goes off-script: Why governance is essential for brand trust

Think of the last time you finished a project without consulting AI at all — feels like a long time ago, doesn’t it? We’ve gone from machine learning being a tool used only in technical contexts to ordinary people weaving AI into their daily lives. The public launch of ChatGPT marked the moment this shift became undeniable (you could argue for other tipping points, but the timeline would be similar).

As AI becomes part of content creation and workflows, questions of trust, liability, and safety inevitably arise. That’s why stronger standards matter more than ever, and why we believe it’s time to put content governance center stage: the rules and safeguards that keep content accurate and dependable.

Content governance has always mattered, but with AI reshaping how content gets created, existing frameworks need a rethink. Because when AI goes off-script, it’s your customers’ trust that you lose.

#Do you trust AI with content?

AI is everywhere in content right now. Forbes reports that 64% of enterprises are exploring generative AI to boost their content supply chains. CMSWire studied the impact of AI on content workflows and found that companies primarily use it for content creation and enhancement (36%), short-form content such as emails and social media (35%), and for automating customer service chatbots (30%).

AI seems promising when it comes to speed and scalability. Instead of spending hours brainstorming and writing word by word, AI can generate content in seconds. But while the promise is real, so are the risks.

We’ve all seen the headlines when AI goes wrong:

• A customer service chatbot is inventing refund policies, leaving the airline scrambling to cover costs.
• An AI campaign generator producing tone-deaf ads that went viral for all the wrong reasons.
• A chatbot learning from users and turning offensive within 24 hours.

AI errors in consumer apps might seem harmless at first, but every mistake carries the risk of lost trust and lost business. For enterprises, this kind of slip can mean brand damage, compliance violations, or lost customer trust.

#What’s the problem with AI-generated content

It’s natural for people to feel a sense of caution when they hear about AI. For businesses, the most important reasons to care include trust, liability, and safety, which directly shape how your consumers perceive you.

When generating or managing content with AI, it’s important to watch out for potential issues:

• Hallucination - AI generates factually incorrect or entirely made-up information.
• Bias - AI models inherit biases from training data.
• Homogenization - Content may sound generic or repetitive, blending into the “AI noise.”
• Compliance & legal risks - Copyright infringement if AI output closely mirrors training data.
• Data leakage/loss - If sensitive or proprietary data is fed into external AI tools, it may be exposed, logged, or used in training.
• Brand voice drift - AI doesn’t always maintain tone, nuance, or strategic messaging.
• Discoverability issues - AI-generated text may trigger search engine penalties if flagged as spammy, low-quality, or non-original.

And these risks aren’t hypothetical: Samsung restricted employee access to generative AI after confidential code leaked into prompts; McDonald’s scrapped its AI drive-thru trial after repeated failures frustrated customers. In both cases, the fallout was reputational, operational, and costly.

The bigger question, though, is whether AI is really delivering outcomes. Too many companies stop at production efficiency: faster blogs, quicker emails, automated campaigns, without asking if those efforts translate into business value.

Deloitte found that 71% of organizations haven’t yet identified or adopted the leading practices tied to strong AI outcomes. That suggests the real risk isn’t just bad content, but wasted investment.

So instead of asking “How much faster can AI create?”, maybe the better question is “Are we sure AI is driving the outcomes we need?”

#The pressure on enterprise content teams

With so many risks tied to AI-generated content, it’s no surprise that enterprise content teams are feeling the pressure. The more AI is embedded in workflows, the higher the stakes become if things go wrong.

Gartner predicts that by 2026, over 80% of enterprises will be using GenAI in production, up from less than 5% in 2023. That scale means problems will multiply quickly, and the impact will accelerate.

It’s why Gartner also emphasizes governance. In their Journey Guide to Managing AI Governance, Trust, Risk and Security, they project that by 2027, robust AI governance and TRiSM (trust, risk, and security management) will be the primary differentiators of AI offerings, with 75% of platforms incorporating these features to stay competitive.

Enterprise content isn’t just about catchy taglines. It’s the product descriptions, documentation, campaigns, and updates that customers rely on every day. And the pressure on teams has never been higher. To name a few:

• Content has to stay consistent across dozens of channels and languages.
• Regulatory compliance is non-negotiable.
• Marketing calendars are relentless, but teams are leaner than ever.

And if those are the requirements, the blockers are just as significant. Many organizations are struggling with the basics: 43% cite limited cross-department collaboration, and 38% are held back by siloed data systems. Even with rising AI adoption, only 19% say they truly understand their customers “well.” And when it comes to personalization—the area that should benefit most from AI—maturity remains low, with just 20% reporting tangible results.

These numbers suggest that many companies are simply doing AI without knowing whether it actually helps. And that only increases the need to monitor how AI is used.

#The overlooked factor in CMS AI: Content governance

This is where content governance comes in. Governance is the difference between AI as a novelty and AI as a value driver. It ensures brand and compliance rules are enforced automatically, content quality is maintained across every market, and AI outputs are integrated into workflows without derailing them. Done well, it keeps AI aligned with outcomes rather than just speed.

And the CMS is the natural home for this. It’s where content is modeled, approved, localized, and delivered. If governance isn’t embedded here, teams are left patching gaps across disconnected tools, exactly the kind of silos Gartner warns against.

Strong governance in the CMS means content teams can actually trust AI to work for them, not against them. It turns “faster content” into consistent, compliant, and customer-ready content at scale.

The CMS market is racing to embrace AI. But most solutions fall into one of three buckets:

• Quick add-ons for editors, like automated text suggestions or SEO checks.
• Developer-centric integrations that offer power, but little governance.
• Bring-your-own-AI approaches that let you connect a model, but without any workflow control.

In all cases, you might be left wondering the same question: Can we really trust this in production?

For AI to be enterprise-ready, it needs content governance as the critical link in the chain, working within the same guardrails as people:

• Defined roles and permissions.
• Clear accountability and audit trails.
• Seamless integration into workflows.

Only then can enterprises move beyond pilots and safely bring AI into production.

#Introducing Hygraph Agents

At Hygraph, we believe AI in the CMS shouldn’t be an experiment. It should be a reliable teammate. That’s why we’re building Hygraph Agents: autonomous AI teammates that operate inside workflows, but always under enterprise control.

You can get rid of repetitive tasks:

• A translator that localizes content for new markets.
• An SEO checker that flags issues before publishing.
• A summarizer that condenses lengthy reports into digestible updates.

These “AI teammates” free up humans to focus on strategy and creativity. But without guidance, they are like employees with no job description or manager—unpredictable and potentially risky.

With Hygraph Agents, enterprises get:

• Velocity with quality – faster publishing, but always brand-safe and compliant.
• Scale without headcount – lean teams can manage global content ecosystems.
• Trust in every action – every AI operation is logged, governed, and accountable.

In other words: as much autonomy as you dare, as much control as you need.

#The bottom line

AI is no longer optional in content management. But for enterprises, speed cannot come at any cost. The winners will be those who combine the velocity of AI with the governance of a CMS.

That’s what we’re building at Hygraph—the invisible backbone of AI-driven content. Reliable, governed, and ready for enterprise scale.