In the age of AI, communicators have a new audience: machines
AI is changing how PR teams craft stories and guard reputation. That message came through clearly at the recent Retail Communicators' Network meeting in Washington, D.C., where senior leaders tackled AI, tariffs, internal communications, community relations, the consumer, the economy and risk. AI dominated the discussion for a simple reason: Our messages are now read by people and parsed by models.
Why machines now matter to your story
"Communications has always managed human perception. Now it must also manage machine perception." - Liz Stein, Managing Director, One Strategy Group
AI assistants and search tools build answers by digesting public sources: press releases, blogs, social posts, reviews, bios, earnings reports and more. Anything on your site or in your feeds can become training data or retrieval fodder for large language models. If you want helpful AI summaries of your brand, your public content must make that easy.
For context on how systems learn, see this primer on large language models: What is an LLM?
Audit your machine reputation
- Ask leading AI assistants to summarize your company, products, customers and recent news. Do this monthly.
- Compare results to your message house. Highlight missing facts, outdated claims and off-brand language.
- Plan fixes across owned and earned channels. Publish clear, consistent copy that gives models the right phrases to reuse.
Rethink earned media priorities
Front-page national hits will always matter. But trade publications often carry denser, topic-specific language that models pick up and recycle more often. That makes trades a strategic lever for how AI describes your brand.
- Place more targeted stories in vertical outlets that match your key themes and keywords.
- Make executive quotes short and quotable in press materials. Models excerpt tight lines more reliably.
- Keep your Wikipedia page accurate and sourced. Many systems lean on it for quick facts.
Make owned content easy for models to use
- Connect the dots: Tie strategy, financials and product into one cohesive narrative so AI can form a complete picture.
- Be proactive and clear: Publish consistently across your editorial channels. Use straightforward language and avoid jargon.
- Structure for answers: Use Q&A sections, descriptive headings that mirror customer questions, and concise summaries and FAQs.
- Establish credibility: Publish white papers, case studies, original research and focused thought leadership on specific topics.
Common pitfalls to watch
- Hallucinations: Drafting with AI can introduce fake quotes or made-up data. Always fact-check and approve final copy.
- Sentiment slips: Models can misread slang or emojis and flip a positive comment to negative (or the reverse). Keep humans in the loop for social replies.
- False efficiency: If edits and reviews take longer than writing from scratch, rethink the use case or your prompts.
Quick playbook for PR and communications teams
- Monthly machine audit: Capture and archive AI summaries of your brand. Track changes over time.
- Message consistency: Maintain a living glossary of approved terms, product names, and proof points. Use them everywhere.
- Press release hygiene: Lead with the headline facts (who, what, where, when, why) and include simple bullets and executive quotes under 25 words.
- Trade cadence: Secure regular placements in 2-3 priority verticals tied to your core narratives.
- Owned hubs: Centralize research, case studies and FAQs on your site so models and people can find definitive answers.
- Review guardrails: Require human review for AI-written content, sentiment responses and anything with legal or financial claims.
- Measure what matters: Monitor branded queries, AI summary accuracy, quote pickup, and correction speed for outdated facts.
What this means for your team
Managing this new audience will stretch how we plan, write and measure. It also opens space for comms leaders to guide their companies through change-setting standards, building skills and tightening the link between narrative and data.
Get hands-on with AI for communications
If you want structured upskilling for PR and comms roles, explore curated options here: AI courses by job.
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