Is earning an AI’s trust just horse training with better software?
About the episode
Horses don’t trust you because you tell them to. They learn from consistency, predictability and what you do over time.
Mark Drosos, SVP of Channel Sales & Alliances at Conductor, joins Rachel Truair to explore why that idea has surprising implications for how brands show up in AI. As answer engines increasingly interpret, recommend and eventually select brands, simply creating more content or chasing citations will not be enough.
They discuss why the best brand may still lose if AI does not see the right signals at the right moment, how “agent selectability” changes the role of content across the buying journey, and why brands may need to start thinking of AI agents as another audience, or even another member of the buying group.
The conversation ultimately asks what happens when brands are no longer trying to earn credibility only from people, but from the machines increasingly helping people decide what to believe, what to buy and eventually what to do.
“ You might be the best horse… but if the judge happens to be looking at you at the wrong moment, you’re not gonna get the ribbon. ”
SVP of Channel Sales & Alliances at Conductor
“ Being mentioned and cited won’t be enough. You’re gonna have to be authentic about what you do eventually. ”
SVP of Channel Sales & Alliances at Conductor
“ Today, it only knows what you tell it to know. And not every consumer knows what to tell it. ”
SVP of Channel Sales & Alliances at Conductor
From the conversation
- Why Mark sees an unexpected parallel between earning a horse’s trust and earning credibility with AI: both depend on consistency, predictability and repeated signals over time.
- Why AEO may follow the same evolution social media did, moving from trying to game a new channel toward genuinely earning the right to participate in the conversation.
- How Mark compares AI discovery to a horse-show flat class, where even the best horse can lose if the judge does not see it at the right moment, and why brands need the right message for different personas, topics and stages of the buying journey.
- What Mark means by “agent selectability,” and why the next challenge is not simply getting cited by AI but helping an agent understand the customer well enough to choose the right product for that person.
- Why AI recommendations still lack some of the verification signals consumers have learned to expect from reviews, influencers and other sources of third-party credibility, and why Mark believes authenticity will become increasingly important.
- Why Mark thinks companies should start treating the AI agent as a distinct audience, rethink how their content maps to personas and buying journeys, and prepare for a future where people increasingly ask and get rather than search and click.
About the guest
Mark Drosos established himself as a pioneer in human-generated data partnerships well before AI and Big Data dominated industry discussions. He currently leads global partnerships at Conductor, a leader in AI Search and Content Creation. He launched Lodestone, a platform leveraging AI and data to enhance fan engagement for sports franchises and media organizations. While at Bazaarvoice, he led the creation of syndicating premium user-generated content, powering Agentic Shopping Engines with authentic images, videos, and consumer reviews.
Prior to Bazaarvoice, at Khoros, he managed the shift toward early chatbots and agents by overseeing the partnership and acquisition of Flow.ai. When Mark is not focused on AI partner ecosystems, his weekends are dedicated to being a horse show dad to his daughter and serving as the versatile “extra guy” for his wife’s equestrian enterprise. From hauling horses to repairing well pumps, fences, trailers, and tractors, his hands-on approach to the “dirty jobs” at the barn has led his friends to jokingly call him the Mike Rowe of AI.
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