Artificial intelligence (AI) is fundamentally changing how audiences discover and consume information, and the public relations industry is experiencing the most significant transformation since the advent of digital media. PR professionals who adapt quickly will find unprecedented opportunities for impact and measurement. Those who don’t… risk becoming obsolete.

I recently attended the Public Relations Society of America’s San Francisco chapter event, “Transform Your PR Workflow with Custom AI Agents.” We heard from Brandon Watts, Director of PR & Communications at Storyblok, and Jed Putterman, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer at Symmetri. The speakers dove into current trends, creative solutions and pressing questions communicators have about AI and how it is changing not only the way we communicate but how we engage with information.

The Current State: Most PR Pros Are Missing the Boat

According to Brandon Watts of Storyblok, industry data reveals a striking gap in AI adoption among PR professionals. While 100% are using AI in some capacity, only 14% are leveraging advanced features such as workflows, automations and custom AI tools.

Workflows are like creating a step-by-step recipe that your computer follows automatically. For example, when a PR team publishes a press release, a workflow might automatically send it to the legal team for review, then to the VP for approval, then schedule it to go out to media contacts without anyone having to manually forward emails or remember the next step.

Automations are simple “if this, then that” rules that handle repetitive tasks. Think of it like setting your coffee maker to brew at 7 AM every morning – you set the rule once, and it just happens. In PR, this might mean AI automatically sorts incoming media mentions into folders by topic, generates a weekly report of press coverage every Friday or alerts the team whenever the company is mentioned in major news outlets.

The key difference is that workflows handle multi-step processes (like an assembly line), while automations handle individual repetitive tasks (like a smart thermostat). Both save time by eliminating manual work, but most PR professionals are still only using AI for basic tasks like writing outlines rather than building these more sophisticated systems. The 86% still operating at basic levels are missing out on game-changing capabilities that could transform their effectiveness and demonstrate clear ROI.

Why AI Search Changes Everything for PR

AI search delivers conversion rates 23 times higher than traditional organic search, with visitors worth 4.4 times more than conventional organic traffic. Even more significant for PR professionals: 95% of AI-cited links are non-paid media, with 89% being earned media specifically (i.e., free publicity you gain when journalists, bloggers or others independently choose to write about or share your news, as opposed to advertising). When AI systems need recent or timely information, they cite journalistic sources 49% of the time.

This data reveals PR owns AI search results. The content that communications teams create and distribute influences how AI systems respond to queries about their brands, as AI tools draw from publicly available information when answering questions.

The Three Levels of AI Implementation

Level 1: Custom GPTs

To start, all you need is a ChatGPT or Claude subscription. PR teams can create custom GPTs for:

Customer Persona Role-Playing: Upload aggregated customer data to create an AI that speaks as your ideal customer, helping validate messaging before publication. Key tip: make sure you have a paid, secure account before uploading any IP, customer information or company data!
Executive Voice Replication: Train GPTs with executive content to maintain consistent voice across all communications.
Content Impact Rating: Build tools that score how likely content is to convert customers on a 0-100% scale.

Level 2: API Automations

Set up automated workflows that offer competitive advantages, transforming reactive PR into proactive opportunity capture:

Real-Time News Monitoring: Receive alerts within 30 seconds of relevant news breaking, complete with newsjacking ideas ready for immediate deployment.
Community Tracking: Monitor Reddit and other platforms for brand mentions with automated response suggestions.

Level 3: Interactive Content Creation

Using tools like Lovable.dev and Replit, PR teams can transform static content into engaging digital experiences without coding experience:

Convert 40-page reports into scrollable interactive websites
Transform static content (e.g., white papers and industry reports) into gamified experiences with interactive quizzes that reinforce key takeaways and boost content engagement
Build custom measurement and engagement tools

The Fundamental Shift: How AI Thinks About Your Brand

Understanding AI implementation is only half the equation. The more critical question is: how do AI systems think about your brand? This shift in thinking can help you transform your Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) strategy.

Jed Putterman from Symmetri explained how AI systems are fundamentally different from human audiences. They’re “lazy” by design, seeking the most efficient path to information. This means they ignore beautiful website designs, videos and complex JavaScript in favor of plain text, markdown formatting and structured data.

For content strategies, this shift means niche blogs and forums now carry equal weight with tier-one publications when AI systems compile information. This dramatically expands opportunities for PR professionals who partner with long-tail content creators. These creators target hyper-specific audiences by producing in-depth content like case studies, detailed tutorials of a complex process, product comparisons for niche use cases and accessible summaries of academic research.

While journalistic sources dominate when AI needs timely news or broad authority, niche content excels when AI searches for specific expertise, technical depth or specialized use cases. A tier-one publication might break the news about a new cancer treatment, but a specialized oncology blog’s detailed analysis of patient eligibility criteria could be equally cited when someone asks, “Am I a candidate for this therapy?” The key is understanding that journalistic sources and niche content serve different purposes in AI responses. Both should be incorporated into content strategies as AI search / GEO becomes more prevalent.

However, authenticity is critical. While AI-generated content may be indexed, search engines are getting better at identifying and deprioritizing AI-generated content, making human-created, expert-driven material more valuable than ever.

Finally, teams should optimize websites specifically for AI crawlers, which bypass traditional design elements and focus exclusively on accessible, well-structured text content. This means prioritizing clean HTML, clear headings and content structure over visual elements. In the future, video crawling may be possible, but for now, text-based content remains the most reliable way to ensure your content is found and referenced by AI systems today. To ensure visuals are text-friendly, be diligent about adding titles, descriptions, transcripts and captions where possible to maximize discoverability.

The Bottom Line

The PR industry is at an inflection point. The question isn’t whether to adapt to AI; it’s how quickly you can move beyond basic implementation to capture the massive opportunities emerging in AI search.

PR professionals already implementing advanced AI capabilities aren’t just more efficient; they’re positioning themselves for a future where AI-driven conversations determine brand perception and business outcomes. The gap between those who adopt AI and those who don’t will only widen as these systems become more sophisticated and prevalent.

The professionals who embrace the messiness of experimentation and push beyond basic AI usage will find their work more measurable, impactful and valuable than ever before.