Published
8th September 2026
Read time
3 min read

Hot off the press! Artificial intelligence isn’t set to replace public relations – despite what you may have heard from the rumour mill.

Rather than being the big bad (somewhat futuristic) wolf, which is set to takeover, AI is rapidly becoming a tool which helps PR professionals execute killer campaigns for their clients by informing how they build relationships, develop creative ideas and deliver strategic advice.

Here’s four ways AI is helping reshape the PR industry - by affording the people at the heart of it, the space to take centre stage:

AI is making PR more efficient

Many of the repetitive, time-consuming tasks that once took hours can now be completed in minutes, with AI helping comms professionals summarise research and reports, identify emerging trends, monitor media coverage and online sentiment quicker than ever.

Rather than replacing expertise and quality writing, it gives PR professionals the gift of time, by removing some of the ‘quantitive’ pressures such as analysing campaign performance and enabling them to better focus their attention on strategy and creativity.

Relationships still drive results

There’s an art to building genuine and long-lasting relationships with journalists, influencers and stakeholders – something which AI can’t yet achieve. It takes the creative mind of a comms whiz to understand what makes a story ‘newsworthy’, know the right people to approach and ultimately establish trust over time.

The landscape it still the same – journalists want relevant, timely stories from comms experts who best understand their audience so, whilst AI may be able to identify names at publications, it takes the ‘know how’ of a PR guru to establish and develop the relationships that matter.

Creativity can’t be automated

AI is excellent at spotting patterns and generating ideas based on existing information, but what it can’t do is create genuinely original campaign concepts rooted in human insight and cultural understanding.

At Leopard Co, behavioural insights sit at the heart of our approach. Through BxROAR - Behaviour, Research, Opportunity, Activation and Results - we diagnose target behaviours, uncover barriers and motivators, and develop science-backed strategies that strengthen campaign impact.

The campaigns people remember are built around emotion, humour, surprise or shared experiences. They come from asking unexpected questions, challenging assumptions and connecting with audiences in meaningful ways.

Strategic thinking matters more than ever

As AI makes content creation easier, strategic communications become even more valuable. Whilst anyone can ask ‘ChatGPT’ to generate a press release in seconds, the real question is:

  •  Is there actually a story?

  • Who needs to hear it?

  • Why should they care?

  • What is the best channel?

  • How does it support the wider business objectives?

These decisions require experience, judgement and commercial understanding. So, whilst AI offers significant benefits for supporting PR professionals in the delivery of their roles by streamlining processes; the craftmanship and expertise of your communications team is still worth its weight in gold!

Want to give your comms strategy a trip through the star car wash? Get in touch with our talented team to find out more.