How Public Relations is Becoming the Most Reliable Tool for Shaping AI Outputs
AI tools gather information by scanning high-authority sources across the web, including news articles, directories, and public websites to generate summaries that reflect what’s most trusted and frequently cited.
As AI-powered tools like ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews, and Perplexity become mainstream, they are fundamentally changing how people find, evaluate, and trust information about companies. What used to be a straightforward path through organic search is now a dynamic landscape of AI-generated summaries, zero-click results, and synthesized answers.
That shift means your audience is no longer learning about your brand through your website alone. Increasingly, they’re getting their first impression from an AI-generated paragraph that pulls together information from across the web. And here’s the truth, many brands haven’t caught up yet. Unless you influence the sources AI draws from, you have no control over how your company is represented.
That’s why public relations (PR) is quickly becoming one of the only tools that can reliably shape how AI describes your business.
AI Doesn’t Pull From Your Website Alone
It’s a common misconception that AI tools simply scrape your website or grab snippets from Google. In reality, these systems prioritize third-party, authoritative sources when generating responses. That means AI is pulling from media articles, analyst commentary, social signals, thought leadership content, and databases with high trust scores and not just your site copy or blog posts.
If your brand has little to no presence in these ecosystems, you’re likely to be inaccurately summarized, misrepresented, or worse—omitted altogether.
Why PR Has a Unique Advantage in the AI Era
Public relations has always been about shaping perception through credible, third-party validation. That mission is now perfectly aligned with how AI systems determine what’s worth including in their responses.
Here’s why PR matters more than ever:
High-authority content feeds AI. Press coverage, expert interviews, and bylined articles in industry publications carry more weight in AI training models than most branded content.
Structured messaging gets reused. If your executives are consistently quoted using strategic, well-defined messages, those phrases are more likely to appear in AI-generated summaries.
PR builds your AI indexability. Regularly appearing in media coverage, thought leadership, and earned channels gives AI models something trustworthy to cite.
The Rise of Zero-Click Search and AI Overviews
Recent changes to Google make this even more urgent. With the rollout of AI Overviews, users are now seeing generative summaries before they see organic results. These AI answers can push even top-ranked search links more than 1,500 pixels down the page. That’s two full scrolls on desktop—and often three on mobile.
So even if you’ve invested heavily in SEO, that visibility is being replaced by AI-generated content. The best way to influence those AI summaries? Provide high-authority, quotable, third-party content—exactly what PR delivers.
PR-Led AI Optimization: A Smarter, More Lasting Approach
Unlike quick fixes or keyword tweaks, public relations provides a strategic and sustainable approach to shaping AI perception over time. When a brand consistently shows up in credible places with a clear, repeatable message, that reputation becomes the one AI tools rely on.
An effective AI-aligned PR strategy might include:
Executive interviews and profile pieces in reputable trade and business outlets
Strategic bylines that reinforce your positioning and category leadership
Consistent third-party mentions across press, podcasts, and analyst coverage
Optimized press releases and thought leadership with AI-friendly language structures
This isn't just about visibility—it’s about controlling your narrative in a zero-click world.
How to Get Started: OUR AI Brand Alignment Audit
At Pietryla PR & Marketing, we developed the AI Brand Alignment Audit to help clients understand exactly how their brand is represented across leading AI platforms. It reveals:
What ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews are currently saying about you
Whether your brand is described clearly, accurately, and consistently
Which sources these platforms rely on to generate their summaries
From there, we help you identify opportunities to improve visibility and align your public presence with your business goals.
Final Thought: AI is Already Writing Your Story
The question isn't whether AI will describe your brand. It already is. The real question is: are you shaping that description, or letting it happen without you?
In this new landscape, public relations is no longer a "nice to have". It's your front line for influencing how machines (and, by extension, your customers) understand your brand. Currently, it's one of the only tools that can reliably do the job.
If you're curious what AI tools are saying about your company today, reach out for an AI Brand Alignment Audit. It's the smartest first step you can take toward future-proofing your visibility.
We created the AI Brand Alignment Audit to help companies take control of how their brand shows up in AI-generated content, search, and conversations. As tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok shape public perception, it’s critical that these systems are working with accurate, up-to-date information about your business.
We audit how your brand is currently represented in AI tools and search engines, identify misinformation or outdated content, and develop a strategy to correct and reinforce your core messaging. This includes refining your owned content, strengthening third-party signals, and creating media assets that improve visibility and credibility with AI.
It’s not just SEO anymore. It’s brand integrity in an AI-powered world—and we help you protect it.
What’s Included:
Audit of brand visibility in ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews, Gemini, Perplexity, and other leading tools
Review of how your messaging is being interpreted and surfaced
Identification of outdated, inaccurate, or missing brand content
Specific updates to align owned media with AI training priorities
Recommendations for PR, SEO, and structured data fixes
This is a one-time report.
You can add a monthly report measuring your progress for an additional fee.
