How to Build a Brand in the Age of AI | Ep 976

**Alex Hormozi** (0:02)
21,393,122 followers across all platforms for Layla, Sharon, and me in the ACQ brands. And I want to break down how to build a personal brand in 2026, both leveraging AI, but more importantly, in spite of AI, and how you can actually prove yourself as somebody that people will want to listen to. And so I think the big thing that has to be understood in AI is that AI will not equally disrupt all creators. And so creators actually sit on this continuum. You have low risk, and then you have high risk. So how can you have a high risk creator or a low risk creator? Well, it depends on what is being asked of the consumer. So for example, if you consume a meme, or you consume a stand-up comedy clip, the risk that you have is just the time that you're putting into consuming the clip, and the product of that creator is the clip itself. It's self-contained. Meaning, when you consume it, if you laugh, the value is already delivered. You have a complete cycle. And so these fall into the category of entertainers. And so entertainers, and I define entertainment as one thing, which is the objective of the content is to be consumed. So if you think about a perfect retention curve, if 100% of people watch 100% of a video, you would have a video that would go ultra, ultra viral. But there's nothing after that. It's just you consumed it, you have been entertained.
So then what are the other parts on this continuum?
So the next one you would have would be what I couldn't consider a B2C educator. So what does that look like? Now, to be fair, do you have to be only one of these things? Of course not. You're going to vary along this continuum. It's not like there's a box that you're like, I'm only this or I'm only this. The different types of content you make may correspond with different parts on this continuum, and you also might even have within the same piece of content a couple of them. You might have a little joke that you say that's entertaining of itself, but then you have a point that you'll make, which might lead to something else. We have to answer the next question, which is, what's the point of education? The point of education is to change behavior. You don't put your kid in school so that they act the same. You put their kid in school so they can start reading, or they can start writing, they can start speaking, or they start doing math. They can change behavior.
And so the stakes are significantly lower for B2C educator. So imagine a girl who's doing a hair tutorial, or a makeup tutorial, or a fitness thing for diet, or for working out, or somebody who's giving maybe relationship advice. The reason that I say it's lower risk is that, let's say you start the diet and it doesn't work as well, it's not the end of the world. If you buy some last extensions and it doesn't work as well, not the end of the world. Now, can these people drive sales? Absolutely. I mean, Huda Beauty built an empire off of just this concept. And the thing is that she had credibility within that domain because she could demonstrate it live. She actually used the product. You see it before and after in real time using the implement. You say, I'm willing to take this risk. And so you do it. Now, AI will be best suited to interrupt the stuff on this side. Why is that? Because if you see a clip of an AI avatar girl who's doing her lashes or doing her hair and giving you tips on how to do it, the likelihood that you'll listen to it even if it's AI is probably decently high. As long as the stuff seems like it makes sense, you may be like, I didn't know that. Maybe I'll give that a shot. Now, as you move along this continuum, when the stakes get higher, you're less and less likely to listen to someone who does not have third-party proof that's as demonstrable. So I'll explain. So this middle tier here would be what I would consider a kind of B2 prosumer, all right? So this is kind of where you get into your money stuff. So you look at people who talk about savings and investing money. That's like, is there certainly more risk to what you do with your savings and your money and investing than lashes and your hair and maybe even a diet? Ask most people, the answer would probably be yes, right? So if you look at some of the top creators in the space, let's think of some of them. So you've got like Erika Taughtme, who's done an awesome job. Now, why do people listen to her? Because she talks about how to make disputes and ask for refunds. It's all about money. What is she? She's an attorney, right? She has more real-world credibility. What's another example?