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When OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022, it fundamentally rewrote the rules of strategic communications, public relations, and marketing. At BIG FISH PR, at our core, we are strategic media planners. As we plan out 2026 for our clients, it has become apparent that our team has fully embraced the AI-driven era, preparing for a media landscape where artificial intelligence shapes how stories are discovered, shared, and ranked on Generative Engines, including ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude.
To thrive, not just survive, in this new environment, brands must realign their communications strategies and budgets to account for AI’s growing role, especially in how it identifies and amplifies new information. As we march into 2026, we outline 26 innovative ways AI is reshaping PR, marketing, and search, and offer insights on how publicists can harness these tools to stay ahead of the curve.
1) Predictive Trend Forecasting
AI can scan vast datasets—social chatter, media coverage, and search trends—to forecast emerging topics before they peak. This enables PR teams to position brands at the leading edge of cultural and industry conversations.
2) AI-Powered Journalist Matching
Machine learning tools can identify which reporters are most likely to cover a story based on historical patterns and interest areas. This ensures pitches land with the right media contacts and improves earned media success rates.
3) Real-Time Reputation and Sentiment Monitoring
AI continuously tracks public sentiment across news and social platforms, flagging risks or opportunities in real time. This enables brands to react faster to issues, or capitalize on positive momentum.
4) Optimizing Press Releases for Search
Generative AI tools can analyze trending keywords and automatically suggest optimized phrasing and structure. The result: releases that not only appeal to journalists but also rank higher in search results.
5) Dynamic Headline Testing
AI can test multiple headline variations instantly, predicting which ones will drive the most engagement or pickup. This takes the guesswork out of crafting attention-grabbing stories.
6) Competitive and Share-of-Voice Analysis
AI systems can quantify how a brand’s media coverage compares to competitors and surface where opportunities exist to gain ground. These insights directly inform PR priorities and storytelling strategy.
7) Precision Story Targeting
By analyzing audience behaviors and media consumption habits, AI helps PR teams target the right outlet and platform for each story. This ensures messages reach the most relevant and receptive audiences.
8) Generative Visual Content Creation
AI tools can create supporting visuals: infographics, mockups, or conceptual art that elevate campaign storytelling and make earned media assets more compelling.
9) Media List Curation
AI automates the process of curating and refreshing media lists based on beat changes, engagement rates, and publication reach. This keeps outreach efforts efficient and accurate. We have found that while media list curation is often strengthened by AI, the best results are achieved when an experienced publicist is the lead curator, editor, and strategist on the list build.
10) AI-Enhanced Influencer Identification
Beyond follower counts, AI evaluates engagement quality, authenticity, and audience demographics to identify influencers who truly align with a brand’s goals and values.
11) Generative AI Results from Earned Media and PR
AI is constantly learning, and it’s not learning from SEO, SEM or corporate videos. AI learns from earned media, specifically press coverage, which is the domain of PR firms.
12) Predictive Budget Allocation
Using data on performance trends, AI can recommend where to focus PR and marketing spend for the highest return, be it media relations, content, or influencer engagement.
13) Voice and Conversational SEO
As voice search and AI assistants become ubiquitous, brand messaging must be optimized for conversational queries. AI helps identify how people naturally ask about topics relevant to brands.
14) Message Testing and Refinement
AI tools can A/B test narratives and measure emotional resonance, clarity, and memorability. This enables communicators to refine language before campaigns go live.
15) Audience Segmentation and Behavior Insights
Machine learning can uncover new audience clusters and predict what types of stories or campaigns will move each group to action, enabling personalized storytelling at scale.
16) Dynamic Storytelling Formats
AI can personalize stories dynamically based on who’s consuming them, altering tone, visuals, and examples to better engage different audiences.
17) Media Training and Spokesperson Simulation
AI-powered simulation platforms can recreate realistic interview scenarios, helping executives practice responses to tough questions before going on record.
18) Automated Coverage Reporting and Impact Analysis
AI eliminates the manual labor of clipping coverage and calculating reach. It produces detailed analytics showing sentiment, audience impact, and SEO value.
19) Integrating Earned Media with Paid Strategy
AI identifies high-performing earned stories and recommends how to amplify them through paid or social channels, maximizing their reach and lifespan.
20) Identifying Narrative Gaps and Opportunities
By mapping the full media conversation, AI can reveal which aspects of a brand story are underrepresented, creating fresh openings for thought leadership or news generation.
21) Predicting Virality and Timing
Machine learning models analyze when content is most likely to perform best, factoring in timing, topic saturation, and audience behavior to optimize campaign launches.
22) Automated Transcription and Content Repurposing
AI transcription tools turn interviews, panels, and podcasts into searchable, reusable text for articles, blog posts, and press materials, extending the value of every piece of content.
23) Emotion-Based Creative Optimization
AI can detect the emotional tone of creative assets and suggest edits that align with audience sentiment, ensuring brand messages connect on a human level.
24) Generative Storytelling and Concept Ideation
AI can spark creative ideas for campaigns, taglines, and story angles, helping PR teams break through creative blocks and uncover unexpected directions.
25) Unified PR Performance Dashboards
AI can integrate data from multiple platforms, earned, paid, and owned media, to provide real-time visibility into campaign performance and its direct business impact.
26) AI-Informed Strategic Planning and Scenario Modeling
Perhaps the most powerful application of AI in PR is at the strategic level. AI can simulate different media, economic, or cultural scenarios to forecast campaign outcomes and identify where to focus communications. This empowers brands and agencies like BIG FISH PR to make faster, smarter, data-backed strategic decisions that deliver measurable impact.
The Future Belongs to AI-Savvy Storytellers
2026 is going to be a year won by brands that understand the power of public relations combined with Artificial Intelligence. The brands that will lose in 2026 are brands that double down on silo-focused SEO, SEM, and video, while ignoring earned media and its power over AI. AI is redefining how stories are created, discovered, and amplified. The brands that win in 2026 and beyond will be those that combine human creativity with AI to make smarter, faster, and more data-informed decisions.
Marketers, brand managers, CMOs, VPs of communications, SEO experts, and advertisers all stand to gain from partnering with a PR firm that understands how AI is transforming the media ecosystem and knows how to use it strategically. At BIG FISH PR, we don’t just use AI, we integrate it into many phases of the communications process, from research and planning to storytelling and measurement.
In an era where algorithms shape what audiences see and believe, earned media must be both human and machine-readable. That is where we excel, crafting narratives that resonate emotionally, perform algorithmically, and deliver measurable business impact.
