Press releases have shifted from being a notice for journalists, investors and consumers into a primary source AI uses to build its understanding of the world. A June 2026 GlobeNewswire study of more than 8,000 published releases found that 99.3% of them were cited by ChatGPT or Claude, with the average time to first citation under eight hours.
The research, released by Notified, suggests AI systems are relying on these trusted, official announcements to establish facts before synthesizing information from other sources. For communications teams, that means the version of a story a company publishes may become the foundation AI uses when answering questions about it.
Structure drives AI citations
The GlobeNewswire study found that content optimized for structure generated two-times more AI citations on average than content that wasn't. AI systems perform best when information is organized logically, with key facts that are easy to identify and important details presented without ambiguity.
But as more organizations adopt those practices, structure alone won't be the differentiator. Originality becomes equally important. Proprietary data, customer stories and distinctive executive perspectives give both journalists and AI systems a fresh source to reference - and increase the likelihood of media pickup.
Distribution makes an announcement discoverable, but the substance of the story determines whether others consider it worth repeating. The better question for communications teams is no longer, "Do we have something to announce?" It's, "Are we sharing something only we can say?"
Professionals looking to build these skills can find practical training through an AI Learning Path for Media Relations Specialists, which covers how to adapt press release strategy for AI-driven discovery.
Multilingual releases expand AI reach
AI operates across languages, and the research found that multilingual, GlobeNewswire-distributed releases generated twice as many AI citations in the first 30 days as English-only ones. Language directly influences how readily an organization's information can be discovered, understood and referenced across global and regional markets.
Organizations that communicate only in English may be limiting both their regional reach and how widely their announcements are surfaced and understood by AI systems responding to questions from people around the world.
Consistency across the information ecosystem
AI develops a narrative around a company by comparing information across multiple authoritative sources - such as earned media and Reddit - and looking for consistency. A press release doesn't operate in isolation. It's part of a broader body of information that helps establish what is accurate, credible and worth repeating.
The research showed that owned content, including newsroom articles, blogs and campaign pages, was twice as likely to be cited within the first 30 days when it was supported by a newswire-distributed release. A release, newsroom story and executive commentary should reinforce the same core narrative while each contributing something valuable on its own. Consistency doesn't mean repetition; it means keeping the central facts, message and context aligned wherever the story appears.
For PR teams adapting to this shift, AI for PR & Communications resources offer guidance on building the kind of structured, credible information ecosystem that AI systems reward.
Why this matters for PR and communications professionals
Communications teams will soon be measured not just by the attention they generate, but by the quality, credibility and originality of the information that informs large language models. The press release is no longer just a formality drafted for the official record - it's the foundational building block of a communications campaign that AI draws from when it needs to understand an organization.
That shifts the job in a concrete way: every release should be written with the assumption that an AI system will read it, extract facts from it and potentially repeat those facts to anyone who asks about the company. Structure, originality and multilingual distribution are no longer optional polish. They're the mechanics of being cited at all.
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