The communications industry is no stranger to transformation. In the past two decades alone, the rise of social media and long-form podcast interviews has radically reshaped how organisations connect with key audiences and achieve media visibility.

But the advent of publicly accessible generative AI has ushered in a new approach to media engagement with startling rapidity.

For comparison, it took Facebook around 15 years to amass 2.3 billion users, according to the World Economic Forum. In contrast, TechCrunch reports ChatGPT has hit approximately 900 million weekly users within four years of its release, and data from Meltwater’s Digital 2026 Global Overview places it as the fifth-most-visited website in the world.

Naturally, AI’s meteoric impact extends far beyond any one platform. Tech giants, including Microsoft and Google, were quick off the mark to launch their own models, with McKinsey reporting that at least 50 percent of Google searches generate AI summaries as of autumn 2025.

Like a meteor, AI poses significant risks and requires a swift evolution in the way communications professionals operate if agencies are to survive in the ‘new world’ post-impact. But like a meteor – historically, a rich source of iron for tool-making – AI has vast potential to aid PR professionals when implemented strategically.

The question is not should you change, it’s how should you change?

From SEO to GEO

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is an approach to improving brand visibility by boosting your website up the list of search engine results. The nearer the top it is, the easier it is for people to find, which helps to improve web traffic. Common ways to achieve this include securing backlinks from higher-ranked websites and embedding often-searched keywords in the titles of published content.

For universities and business schools seeking ways to market their programmes to potential students, SEO has long been an important way to attract attention to course pages on their websites. Faculty-written thought-leadership content, in particular, can be an effective way to secure backlinks from media platforms which attract lots of traffic.

However, easy access to Large Language Models (LLMs) – AI tools with advanced capabilities to process and summarise vast quantities of written content – is transforming the way people search for information.

Instead of scrolling down a list of webpages by consulting a search engine, many are instead asking AIs like ChatGPT to gather the information for them, presenting a small, curated selection of links as references in their answers, based on articles that have a close semantic link to the user’s query. Indeed, even when users do turn to search engines, the first information they encounter is often an AI summary rather than the highest-ranked websites according to SEO.

This does not mean that SEO should no longer be a consideration for PRs, but it does show that Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) must also be prioritised.

When selecting which information to cite, LLMs prioritise content that: provides specific answers rather than broad generalisations, is backed by visible credentials, and is published in reputable sources with clear authorship and dates. The latter could include mainstream media outlets, industry publications, or academic journals.

This puts universities and business schools in a strong position, as their media engagement strategies already focus on many of the publications LLMs prioritise in citations, and spokespeople from these institutions have the necessary credentials for their commentary to be considered authoritative.

PR and communications strategies should continue to emphasise the importance of earned media opportunities, while monitoring how their brands are presented in AI-generated content. Several firms have already developed digital tools to help organisations audit their AI visibility so they can respond promptly to inaccuracies or misinformation.

Collaborating with AI

The current generation of AI tools’ advanced capabilities enable them to tackle multi-step workflows, conducting swift and in-depth audience analysis, assessing sentiment across media coverage and social media engagement, compiling reports that visualise their findings, and suggesting new angles for key messaging.

None of this is to say that AI can replace PR expertise. It cannot. Rather, it serves to advise experienced PR and communications professionals, enhancing their performance.

Whether planning a campaign or long-term ongoing PR activity, access to data and audience insights is a highly valuable resource. Targeted AI implementation can free up professionals from data-collecting tasks so they can spend more time on the areas that AI is unable to replicate: strategic planning and relationship-building.

As journalists become increasingly accustomed to vetting pitches for AI-generated content, long-running relationships with PR and communications professionals have only grown in importance.

A 2026 survey by Australian media intelligence company Medianet found that around 78 percent of journalists are less likely to trust PR professionals who sent AI-generated pitches, while a separate report by Global Results Communications suggests 43 percent of reporters across print, digital, and broadcast media have a negative view of such pitches. Common concerns include that these pitches lack perspective and erode editorial trust.

With the wealth of data at PRs’ fingertips thanks to AI tools, it should be easier than ever to demonstrate a clear viewpoint, combined with an understanding of the journalist’s areas of interest and a publication’s editorial standards.

Those who can translate AI-generated insights into personally-crafted content that reads like it was human written (because it was!) are the ones who are building long-lasting professional relationships with journalists and achieving regular coverage.

Successful PR professionals will integrate AI into their creative process by:

Using AI to paint a more detailed picture of a journalist or publication’s focal points. For instance, by summarising recent coverage on a particular topic, allowing you to craft a new yet relevant angle for your pitch.

Testing angles, using the AI as a sparring partner. Specifically asking the AI if a pitch would resonate with journalists covering specific beats can help to identify how your pitch offers something new and of value to the current news cycle.

Drafting pitches faster, using AI to get ideas down on the blank page, then being thorough in the editing process. AI tools can be useful for simplifying academic jargon, but the editorial process must reassert the human perspective at the heart of your pitching. Pitches must express an authentic expert opinion, not the bot’s analysis.

Identifying ways to personalise each pitch. Instead of firing off a copy-and-pasted pitch to 50 journalists, AI can suggest how to adapt an opening line to reference a journalist’s recent work. You must rigorously fact-check its citations, however, to ensure the AI has not referenced articles the journalist you are reaching out to did not author.

The challenge and the solution

AI’s impact on the communications sector is profound and simultaneously affects the approach and objectives of PR campaigns. Brand reputations will continue to be shaped by media coverage, social media engagement, and SEO rankings, but now there is the added consideration of appearing in LLM citations.

The frequency and sentiment of these citations are all within the remit of PR professionals to influence, and the surest path to achieving frequent positive citations is through earned media opportunities with reputable media outlets.

Securing these opportunities will require the strategic implementation of AI tools, not to churn out easily-replicable pitches for mass release, but to advise, refine, and personalise pitching through improved access to information. PR and communications professionals who can demonstrate discretion in how they employ these digital tools are the ones who will secure long-term professional relationships with journalists, leading to beneficial coverage for their clients.

To learn more about how BlueSky Education can help your institution improve its brand visibility in the evolving media landscape, contact us here.

Author: Jamie Hose

Having developed his craft as a writer under the guidance of world-renowned novelists, poets and playwrights, Jamie has also spent a couple of years as a content writer for a primarily American readership, with over 150 articles published under his name. He boasts an evolving network of international media contacts ready for the benefit of the institutions and organisations he works with.