Getting Started
Since we last discussed this topic, AI has become a present-day necessity in PR & Communications. But knowing you need to use it and knowing where to begin are two vastly different things.
Many communications leaders feel the pressure to adopt AI but aren’t sure how to start, where to proceed with caution, or what “good” looks like. That’s why PublicRelay is helping clients simply begin by offering a low barrier but extremely strategic way to add AI into their toolkit.
Here’s what we’ve learned from working directly with communications teams using AI every day: what is working, where to watch out, and how a hybrid human-AI approach can help you move forward with clarity.
AI Is Reshaping Communications, But It’s Not a Silver Bullet
Artificial intelligence is now a foundational capability for modern PR and Communications teams. Used strategically, AI is reshaping how communicators gather insights, track narratives, and respond to risk. But we’ve seen firsthand: AI is only as strong as the strategy—and human expertise—behind it.
On its own, AI lacks the context, precision, and strategic nuance required to meet the high stakes demands of today’s media environment. That’s why the most effective PR teams are embracing a hybrid model that combines the speed and scale of AI with the insight and accuracy of human expertise.
Opportunity: Scale and Speed in a Noisy World
Every minute, millions of posts, photos, and videos are shared, viewed, and watched across social media channels like X, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Joining nearly a million news articles published each day, the scale of public discourse becomes overwhelming. Parsing this vast landscape for relevant content, sentiment, stakeholder impact, and reputational risk is far beyond the capabilities of traditional manual analysis.
This is the clearest value of AI: helping communications teams keep pace with an information environment that simply moves too fast for humans alone.
Its ability to process and classify massive volumes of unstructured data quickly makes it ideal for surfacing high-level trends, monitoring message pickup, benchmarking competitors, and identifying sudden shifts in tone or topic. This kind of speed and scale is essential to helping communicators respond with agility and insight.
Pitfall: The Context Gap
Yet AI has limitations. Despite its speed and efficiency, it lacks the bespoke context and strategic understanding that communications leaders rely on to make high-quality decisions. AI models can hallucinate. They can miss nuance. And they struggle with the ambiguity and complexity that often define reputational risk or opportunity.
That’s why leading communications functions aren’t replacing human expertise, they’re strategically augmenting it. A hybrid model that pairs AI with human intelligence offers the best of both worlds: scale without sacrificing relevance. Humans continue to play a vital role in interpreting data, validating insights, and applying contextual understanding that machines alone can’t deliver.
PublicRelay helps clients walk that line, giving them confidence to start their AI journey knowing they’re supported by both responsible AI use and human judgment.
Start Here: Smart Ways to Add AI to Your Communications Toolkit
You don’t need to be an expert or completely overhaul your workflow to begin using AI. Here are a few ways PublicRelay is helping clients integrate AI responsibly:
Media Measurement at Scale
AI enables us to track and measure media coverage across millions of sources. Key messages, executive visibility, peer comparisons, and issue-based trends can all be monitored with speed and consistency. Human oversight ensures the accuracy and relevance of that data, especially when it comes to interpreting tone, intent, or subtle shifts in narrative.
Narrative Intelligence
Advanced AI models can now help identify not just what’s being said, but how topics are connecting across the media landscape. By surfacing patterns in sentiment, stakeholder voice, and narrative evolution, our team can help communicators spot emerging storylines, understand how public opinion is forming, and map the themes likely to dominate coverage.
Predictive Signals and Risk Detection
One of the most powerful developments in AI for communications is predictive modeling. By examining real-time indicators alongside historical media trends, AI can flag stories likely to accelerate in visibility (whether they represent a reputational risk or a positive opportunity). Early warning systems give communications leaders the ability to prepare responses, shape narratives, and steer internal alignment before the conversation takes off.
We’ve seen this approach help clients properly navigate media crises and also spot moments of opportunity early.
Custom Intelligence for Strategic Alignment
AI is most effective when its capabilities are tailored to the unique context of a business. Communications teams are increasingly building custom analysis frameworks aligned to their structure, goals, and stakeholders. We work with our clients to design bespoke AI applications that mirror their internal priorities, whether that means tracking specific narratives, evaluating executive visibility, or benchmarking key competitors.
Think of this as turning AI into your AI.
A Feedback Loop for Continuous Improvement
The most successful implementations of AI in PR evolve. Human experts serve as the feedback mechanism that keeps AI models accurate and relevant, particularly as business objectives shift or media landscapes change. This consistent feedback loop is a core part of how we ensure our clients’ insights remain both actionable and aligned with what matters most to their organization.
You Don’t Have to Be First, You Just Have to Begin
If you’re not already using AI, you’re not behind, you’re just ready to start. At PublicRelay, we’ve seen that the most successful teams aren’t the ones who jump headfirst into AI with flashy tools. They’re the ones who take a smart, strategic first step that aligns with their needs and grows over time.
The Future of Communications Is Hybrid
The future of Comms is about combining the precision of people with the power of technology. AI enables communications teams to scale analysis, anticipate emerging narratives, and respond with agility. Human expertise ensures that what’s surfaced is meaningful, accurate, and strategically useful.
In a world where the pace of information shows no signs of slowing, this hybrid approach should be standard. It transforms communications teams into strategic advisors equipped not just to monitor what’s happening but to shape what happens next.
You don’t have to master AI overnight. But you can start building a smarter, more proactive PR function.
Want to explore how AI can support your communications goals without overcomplicating your workflow? Let’s talk.
PublicRelay partners with leading brands to deliver the insight and clarity their teams need to lead.
