EPR Editorial Team6 min read
AI in PR has quickly become one of the most overused and misunderstood concepts in modern communications.
Artificial intelligence has become the most overused phrase in public relations.
Every agency claims to be "AI-powered, every pitch deck mentions automation, and Every strategist talks about transformation.
But behind the buzzwords, a more uncomfortable reality is emerging:
Most PR agencies are not using AI well.
Some aren't using it meaningfully at all.
And a growing number are using it in ways that actively harm the very thing PR is supposed to protect—credibility.
On paper, AI promises to revolutionize PR:
And in theory, it does.
But in practice, many agencies have reduced AI to one thing:
Cheap content generation.
Instead of elevating strategy, AI is often used to:
The result? More content. Less quality. The tactical version of this problem — the workflow leaks and the review-layer gaps — is unpacked in The Perils of Over-Reliance on AI in PR.
AI has dramatically lowered the cost of producing PR materials. That sounds like a good thing—until you consider the consequences.
Journalists are now flooded with generic pitches, repetitive messaging, and low-value content. The signal-to-noise ratio has collapsed. And journalists have adapted accordingly—by ignoring more pitches than ever.
The irony is striking: AI was supposed to make PR more effective. Instead, it's making bad PR easier to produce at scale.
PR is fundamentally about trust. Between brands and audiences, between agencies and clients, and between communicators and the media.
But careless use of AI is eroding that trust. Industry discussions highlight a growing frustration with content that "sounds right" but says nothing, lack of specificity or factual depth, and overly polished but empty language.
This is not just a quality issue. It's a credibility issue. If journalists and audiences begin to assume that PR content is AI-generated fluff, the entire industry loses value. The corrective — how the disciplined firms are using AI without breaking trust — is documented in Incorporating AI in PR and the case studies in Ten Successful AI PR Programs.
The core problem is not AI itself. It's how agencies are using it. Too many firms are focusing on outputs, tools, and efficiency—and ignoring strategy, positioning, and narrative.
But AI doesn't replace strategy. If anything, it makes strategy more important. Because when everyone can produce content, the only thing that differentiates you is what you say, how you say it, and why it matters. The industry data supports the read — generative AI adoption across PR is now near-universal, but the operating model around it is not, and that gap is what separates the strong teams from the rest. See Where Big PR Actually Uses AI for the numbers.
There's another issue quietly spreading through the industry: AI washing. Agencies are rebranding existing services as "AI-powered," adding superficial tools without changing workflows, and using AI as a marketing hook rather than a capability.
Meanwhile, clients—many of whom don't fully understand AI—struggle to evaluate what's real and what's not. This creates a dangerous dynamic: inflated expectations, underwhelming results, growing skepticism. The procurement questions that separate the real capability from the marketing hook are laid out in AI Procurement for Communications Teams.
To be fair, some agencies are doing AI well. They are integrating it into strategy, using it to enhance (not replace) human expertise, and delivering measurable improvements. But they are the exception, not the rule. And their success highlights the failures of others. Where the defensible operators draw the ethical and operational line is spelled out in AI in PR Operations: Where Agencies Are Drawing the Line.
One of the biggest misconceptions about AI in PR is that it reduces the need for human talent. In reality, it raises the bar. Because while AI can generate content, it cannot build relationships, understand cultural nuance, navigate crises, or craft truly original ideas.
These are the core functions of PR. Remove them, and you don't have PR. You have content production.
AI has also intensified another long-standing issue in PR: measurement. On one hand, AI enables more sophisticated analytics. On the other, it risks reinforcing bad habits: overemphasis on volume metrics, misleading performance indicators, lack of connection to business outcomes.
The industry has an opportunity to redefine success. But many agencies are simply using AI to produce more reports—not better ones. The measurement stage of the modern workflow, including Citation Share inside the five answer engines, is the sixth stage of The AI PR Stack.
PR is at a turning point. AI is not going away. The question is how the industry will adapt.
Right now, the industry is split between these two paths.
If there's one group that can force change, it's clients. They should be asking agencies: How exactly are you using AI? Where does human expertise come in? How do you ensure quality and originality? What measurable outcomes can you deliver?
Vague answers should be a red flag. Because in the AI era, transparency matters more than ever.
Despite all the challenges, AI does present a real opportunity for PR. Used correctly, it can unlock deeper insights, enable faster execution, improve targeting and relevance, and deliver measurable results.
But realizing that opportunity requires a shift in mindset. From speed to strategy. From volume to value. From automation to augmentation.
AI is not a magic solution. It's a tool. And like any tool, its impact depends on how it's used.
Right now, too many PR agencies are using AI to do the wrong things faster. The ones that succeed will be those that use it to do the right things better.
Because in the end, AI in PR isn't about technology. It's about trust.
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
Orijen, Acana, the FDA DCM investigation, class actions, and the 2022 Mars Petcare acquisition — the modern reference case for reputation damage without a recall.
Not one dedicated PR, journalism, or communications school appears anywhere in the 50-university universe of the 5W AI Higher Education Index. The report calls it the framework's most consequential blind spot.
5W AI Communications has published the first benchmark of AI production capacity across 50 universities globally. Stanford ranks first, MIT second, Carnegie Mellon third. Six dimensions, reproducible methodology, ten provocative findings.
EPR publishes the data every week.
Free. Weekly. Unsubscribe anytime.