For PR professionals, the question is no longer if AI will change our industry, but how we can harness it to elevate our craft. The most successful among us are no longer just storytellers; we are strategic architects of a new model: the human-ready PR organisation.
This isn’t about machines replacing people. It’s about a powerful synergy where AI handles the scale and data, freeing us to focus on the high-value, human-centric work of building genuine trust and relationships. The traditional methods aren’t dead.
Press releases, media pitches, thought leadership articles and crisis management are as relevant as ever. But they are now supercharged. A press release is no longer just a distribution play; it’s a data-informed narrative, optimised by AI for reach and engagement before a human ever crafts the key message.
The data confirms this shift is already mainstream. We’re moving beyond experimentation into full-scale integration.
Source: Independent News Data / OpenAI / National Bureau of Economic Research
The human-ready PR model in action
The stats show the what. The real advantage comes from the how – the strategic division of labour between human and machine.
- Media relations, reimagined: AI can identify the perfect journalist for a story in seconds, analysing their recent coverage and tone. But the pitch itself? That requires a human’s understanding of nuance, timing, and context. The follow-up? That’s pure relationship-building. This combination is lethal.
- Case in point: A tech start-up used an AI media database to identify 500 relevant reporters for a product launch. Instead of a generic blast, the human team used those insights to craft 50 highly personalised, strategic pitches to the most relevant targets, resulting in coverage in three top-tier publications that previously ignored them.
- Crisis management at the speed of AI: AI tools now monitor global news and social channels in real-time, flagging potential crises hours before they trend. This gives our human teams a critical head start. But the response strategy – the empathetic statement, the nuanced stakeholder communications. That is and must remain a deeply human endeavour. AI provides the early warning system; humans provide the moral compass.
- Content that connects: As the table shows, 65% of us use AI for drafting. This is a massive efficiency gain. But the best PR pros use it as a starting point – a way to overcome the blank page. The final product is infused with brand voice, emotional intelligence, and strategic narrative, elements AI cannot authentically generate. We are the editors, the strategists, the creators.
The peril of waiting for perfection: Lessons from Apple
The biggest risk today is not adopting a flawed tool; it is adopting no tool at all. The market is moving too fast. We need look no further than Apple for a masterclass in this paradox. For years, Apple’s brand was synonymous with perfectionism, launching products only when they were impeccably polished. This approach built immense trust. However, in the breakneck race of AI, this same virtue became a vulnerability.
While competitors like Microsoft were making bold, public bets on AI – integrating it into their core narratives and products. Apple was conspicuously quiet, developing behind the iconic walls of Cupertino. The result? Microsoft, powered by its aggressive and very public AI strategy, dethroned Apple as the world’s most valuable company.
This wasn’t just a financial shift; it was a narrative one. The media story changed from “Apple the innovator” to “Apple the cautious follower” in the era of AI – a significant PR challenge for a brand built on perception.
The lesson for us is stark: In the age of AI, your narrative is shaped by your perceived innovativeness. You cannot craft a leadership story if you are not in the arena. By waiting for a flawless AI product, you sacrifice the narrative momentum that attracts top talent, impresses clients, and secures media coverage as a forward-thinking leader.
In my own experience, I learned that progress trumps perfection. I didn’t wait. I started small:
- Using AI to generate initial drafts of content, saving over 180 hours of manual work in a single quarter.
- Piloting AI-powered conversational emails that saved 81 hours of marketing time while personalising outreach at scale.
- Employing AI to classify thousands of contacts into buying personas, dramatically increasing the precision and ROI of our targeted communications.
Each experiment built my confidence and competence, creating a culture that views AI as a powerful co-pilot, not a threat.
The strategic path forward
For a PR pro looking to leverage these emerging opportunities, the path is clear:
- Upskill relentlessly: Understand what AI can and cannot do. Learn to prompt engineer. Become the person in your agency or department who can bridge the gap between tech and PR.
- Audit your workflow: Identify high-volume, repetitive tasks (media list building, first drafts, performance reports) and pilot an AI tool to handle them. This frees you to do more pitching, more strategizing, more relationship-building.
- Lead with ethics: Human oversight is non-negotiable. We must be the guardians of truth, ensuring AI-generated content is accurate and that AI-driven targeting is responsible and transparent.
The future of PR belongs to those who can wield AI’s analytical power without sacrificing the empathy, creativity, and ethical judgment that are the bedrock of our profession. The goal isn’t to be replaced by an algorithm; it’s to become the strategic conductor of an orchestra of human and machine capabilities.
That is how we build a truly resilient and powerful online presence.
Marilize Jacobs is a reputation strategist and founder of Vocal Cord Reputation Management. She has a BCom Marketing Management (UP) and a career spanning interior design, marketing and PR. Clients, especially in the Financial Services, Legal, Pharmaceutical, Hospitality and Retail industries revere my strategic skills, thoroughness and tenacity when it comes to building and maintaining reputations. She has a pro bono involvement with The Star Academy, an international institution for children with autism.
