How Do I Connect AI and PR?

PR and media have often been the target of concern, with the advent of social media in particular serving as a trigger to announce the death, or at least diminishment, of these two marketing tools. But in the age of artificial intelligence both have been given new life with research from Muck Rack showing that over 89% of AI responses cite earned media. So, how do you connect AI and PR and take advantage of the seismic shift in consumer search? By building an understanding of how AI overlaps with the content brands release online, gaining a full grasp of how AI is changing the way PR and media assets are released, and deploying key techniques to combine PR, media and AI in ways that maximize your brand visibility.

Do AI and PR Overlap?

The most obvious point to consider with PR: AI and PR overlap considerably because AI search tools are rapidly overtaking or integrating into traditional web search. Estimates of audience behavior, such as a recent study from AP-NORC, show over 60% of U.S. adults have used AI tools to search for information. The line between traditional and AI search also overlaps, with WordStream showing that Google AI Overviews (the AI-generated textboxes at the top of a Google search) appear on up to 55% of all Google searches.

This overlap means there is now a twofold shift for PR and media. First, any content released by a brand, including social media, now likely to be read, absorbed and potentially recommended by

AI search tools — in addition to traditional appearances in media sites and web search. Second, audiences using AI tools are likely to read the AI-generated response and not click through to a website, resulting in a potential zero-click future where audiences are viewing the content, but analytics and goals shift based on a change in the entire marketing funnel. Ensuring consistent messages, brand stories, and authority signals through PR and media content is paramount for any brand marketing strategy. Brands who capitalize first on the shift will benefit the most due to the training data and reinforcement tools AI uses to determine which content to show.

How Is AI Impacting PR and Media?

If you’ve read a recent media report or press release from a brand optimizing for generative engine optimization (GEO), then you’ve likely gotten a sense for how AI is changing the approach to traditional media. To encourage ease of understanding, citing and incorporation, many press releases begin with a brief summary of the article and an answer to the question a target audience is likely to search. This blog itself is an example, with the phrase “How Do I Connect AI and PR?” receiving a direct answer early in the first paragraph. Content designed for AI reading incorporates more best practices such as bullet points and tables to align with the preferences of tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini.

Outside of optimizing for citations, media professionals are employing AI tools to enhance their approaches, speed up key steps such as research and expand their ability to understand the media environment. With the right prompt, AI tools such as Claude or Copilot easily draft customized media lists to any topic. The deployment of agents furthers the technical functionality available with the ability to analyze the preferred angles of journalists and find points of alignment with your brand.

Real examples showing how AI can be used to support PR and media are already common, and the numbers support the argument just as well. Here are a few key metrics that outline the ongoing connections between AI and PR:

• 25% of AI citations come from journalism and earned media.
• 5x increase in press release citations by AI tools between July-December, 2025.
• 75% of PR professionals paid for an AI tool in 2025, up from 57% in 2024.
• 40% increase in pitch success rates when deploying AI to customize content.
• 2 AI search tools (ChatGPT and Google Gemini) are in the list of the top 20 most-visited websites.

How Do I Combine PR, Media and AI for Brand Visibility?

The rapid adoption of AI search can appear overwhelming at first glance, and AI’s ability to interact with all things digital means any PR or media spaces your brand operates in should be optimized for AI understanding. A simple checklist can get you started on the path toward fully optimized PR content.

1. Get a handle on how your brand and key media partners are featured in AI search. This can be done through prompting AI with searches related to your brand and cataloguing the websites with content connected to yours.
2. Deploy GEO best practices across your press releases, blogs and media interviews. Use these techniques in your media creation process to ensure alignment, consistent messaging and ease of analysis.
3. Incorporate consistent SEO and GEO analysis using data from Google Analytics or similar sources. This will provide you with a baseline of what your audience cares about which you can draw insights from to refine your media content and topics.

Utilizing this checklist and staying on top of the latest best practices in GEO will give you the know how to combine PR, media and AI for brand visibility. With consumer use of AI only expected to grow in coming years, beginning the process of optimizing for AI now will position your future campaigns for success in a shifting digital world.

Ready to build a dedicated AI strategy for your PR and media efforts? Reach out to our team today.