Max Winger

You're an AI expert, not an influencer?

By Max Winger Published on February 17, 2026 Subheading Your hot takes are killing your credibility.

Prior to my last year at Control AI, I was a physicist working on technical AI safety research.

Like many of those warning about the dangers of AI, I don't come from a background in public communications, but I've quickly learned some important rules.

The number one rule that I've seen far too many others in this field break is that you're an AI expert, not an influencer.

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When communicating to an audience, your persona is one of two broad categories.

Influencer or professional.

influencers are individuals who build an audience around themselves as a person.

Their currency is popularity and their audience values them for who they are and what they believe, not just what they know.

Professionals are individuals who appear in the public eye as representatives of their expertise or organization.

Their currency is credibility and their audience values them for what they know and what they represent, not who they are.

So, let's say you're trying to be a public figure making a difference about AI risk.

You've been on a podcast or two, maybe even on the news.

You might work at an AI policy organization, or perhaps you're an independent professor, researcher, or even a spokesperson for a protest group.

Notably, you're not just a person shouting from the sidelines, you're someone building an actual platform as a spokesperson for this issue.

That makes you a professional.

But of course, even though you're not an influencer, you're a person with opinions about many things.

For the sake of this piece, let's say the latest topic of heated political debate is over a new species of alpine worm.