The way the world communicates digitally has changed profoundly in a short space of time.
It has never been easier to draft and edit text thanks to the rapid advances of Artificial Intelligences.
The technology now has its fingerprints on the day-to-day interactions of many businesses, as well as reshaping their public relations strategies.
Potential advantages such as cost efficiencies, task automation and data analysis may be tempting to explore, especially if staff numbers are low or budget challenges exist.
However, it should not at the expense of one of the most important assets a business can possess in 2026 – trust.
The pros and cons of AI in communications
The way customers find and interact with businesses has changed, with tools such as ChatGPT, one of the most popular Large Language Models (LLM) and Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) playing an increasingly integral role.
Users are being faced with more seamless experiences with AI-generated responses, reducing the need and likelihood of clicking on adverts or the links your SEO strategy worked so hard to achieve.
Generative AI is being used by many companies to create content such as blogs and social media posts, but it’s important to consider the potential consequences – both positive and negative.
Used well, it can execute and optimise projects at speed and at scale, reducing some costs such as SEO agencies in the process.
However, it can also damage your reputation in the eyes of a segment of customers who remain somewhat resistant to being sold to by the technology.
Other concerns include data privacy, a lack of nuance and ending up in a world where your output is exactly the same as everyone else’s.
The importance of trust in an increasingly distrustful world
One of the key features of the risk of AI-produced content is an increasing inability in some quarters to tell the difference between it and human-produced content.
Such is the quality in some cases, and it has left many people distrustful of what they encounter online.
Gone are the days when you could be confident what you just watched or read online was exactly what it was purporting to be.
This lack of trust can be extremely damaging to a business and mean the difference between signing up new customers or retaining existing ones and losing credibility.
People are generally discerning about which businesses they support, and consumer confidence can be a fragile commodity.
Third-party validation in AI search responses
Earned media, which is brand exposure gained through independent sources such as newspapers, magazines or bloggers, has long been a key pillar of communication strategies.
It is seen by many as an important way to demonstrate trustworthiness and expertise, and research by Muckrack states it is responsible for up to 89 percent of citations in AI-generated responses.
Trust, meanwhile, is undeniably one of the key themes in the media landscape in 2026.
This has been a year where some journalists have been hoodwinked by AI-generated content featuring AI-generated experts, sent to them by rogue public relations agencies.
Backhand tactics to obtain backlinks by bad actors have made it more difficult for genuine public relations professionals to do their jobs.
But it has also provided opportunities for those who prove they deserve them.
As publishers put greater checks and balances in place, only those with verified experts and genuine stories to tell will earn their share of the platform.
Those who win going forward will be the ones who are able to harness the potential of AI in PR but in a responsible way, with the human voice remains the most powerful vessel.
In the age of Artificial Intelligence, the brands that win won’t be the loudest or the fastest, but they’ll be the most trusted. Technology can amplify your message, but only authenticity earns belief.
Conclusion
This year feels like a momentous one in the public relations industry as Artificial Intelligence advances continue to create change, opportunities and pitfalls.
However, it’s important not to lose sight of the importance of certain fundamentals.
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) should be at the heart of communications strategies in 2026.
And in a world where much of what we read through our screens has been written and edited by machines, the human voice is more important than ever.
