How AI Is Reshaping Visibility + Credibility in PR
News stories from trusted publications are influencing what AI tools surface and share. More than 89% of links cited by AI come from earned media and nearly half of recent citations are pulled directly from journalistic content (Muck Rack’s 2025 What Is AI Reading? report).
More people are turning to tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s Search Generative Experience for quick answers. Instead of sifting through search results, they’re going straight to summaries.
What does this mean for PR?
This tells us that media coverage is no longer just a tool for awareness and visibility. It’s the content AI uses to influence public understanding. If your organization isn’t being cited in credible sources, it may not be found at all.
This shift is driving a new marketing strategy called Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), which aims to optimize content to be directly featured in AI-powered search engines and voice assistants, providing answers to users’ questions through sources, instead of just linking users to those sources. It’s becoming just as important as SEO. Like its cousin, AEO is about discoverability. But while SEO helps you rank near the top of the list, AEO gets you cited in response to direct questions asked by users.
This trend makes earned media even more valuable. A presence in earned media has always been important, but it is now undeniably central to building credibility and becoming the go-to source in the AI era. For PR professionals, it raises the bar for securing high-quality coverage and reinforces the need for capturing strategic, timely opportunities.
“A presence in earned media has always been important, but it is now undeniably central to building credibility and becoming the go-to source in the AI era.”
AI is changing journalism, too
Over 60% of journalists report using generative AI to help with tasks like research, sourcing and writing support. That means story ideas, better known as “pitches,” are likely competing against a pool of existing sources and content, some of which is surfaced by AI tools before journalists even open their inboxes.
So how do you break through?
AI is speeding up how news is sourced, crafted and shared, all of which makes breaking through harder than ever. You will not win with mass-sending a templated press release or pitch to dozens of reporters. While cold calling can still work, many reporters are going remote and can’t be reached through traditional office lines. PR pros must be smarter.
Some ingredients to earned media success remain the same. More than ever, relevance, relationships, and a strong and well targeted pitch matter. Here are just a few perspectives of how to effectively mix the challenges of today’s technological and generative AI advancements with timeless PR tactics.
Pitch personalization matters more than ever
Seasoned journalists, as well as emerging AI tools, can easily spot generic or templated pitches that lack personalization and were likely distributed to several other target reporters. Pitches with overused buzzwords, an Achilles’ heel of current AI tools, are often filtered out. This is where the efficiency and intelligence of AI must be balanced with human judgment and experience. A pitch must feel (and be) well researched and customized to the journalists receiving it.
Subject lines are just as much about the right keywords as about brevity and relevance
Subject lines make or break pitch success. Short, specific and relevant still win the day, but the landscape is shifting. As AI tools are increasingly used to monitor and evaluate pitches, the keywords used in subject lines could be the difference between striking out and landing a story. PR pros must derive those keywords from deep research and understanding of each reporter’s coverage.
Play the long game and be a topical resource
Even if a pitch doesn’t result in an immediate opportunity, a key goal is to serve as a long-term resource. Reporters often treat their inboxes like a search engine and return to old emails to find expert sources. Again, this is another situation in which using the right keywords is critical.
Use AI to stay abreast of reporters covering target topics
An effective PR AI strategy is using models or tools to help identify journalists who may be interested in specific news topics, including journalists who may not have traditionally covered those topics. This strategy cannot replace human intuition but it’s an ideal and emerging use case where AI can help fill a blind spot.
Keep a pulse on the news
It’s impossible to write a PR blog post without this best practice. AI can’t replace the strong currency offered by PR pros who stay close to the news and are skilled in breaking through the noise to find the right opportunities for their brands.
AI is changing the rules of engagement in PR, but it’s not removing the need for human strategy, intelligence and connection. This evolution actually further emphasizes the value of those skills. The future of PR belongs to the professionals who know how to blend technology with time-tested tactics. We’re implementing programs with this approach and are equipped to continue to provide that value to our clients.
