A report published today by Help a Reporter Out (HARO) finds that public relations in 2026 serves two distinct audiences: the people who read a story and the AI systems that summarize it. Based on interviews with 39 practitioners—from a publicist with 51 years of experience to the founder of an AI-native agency—the report identifies 38 practices organized across eight themes that now define the profession.
The central finding is the emergence of 'machine relations' as a discipline alongside media relations. Practitioners are conducting prompt research, reverse engineering AI answer summaries across models, and optimizing content for citations in AI answer engines, which have become a primary PR surface. 'The biggest shift in 2026 is that every placement now has two audiences: the readers who see the story, and the machines that cite it,' said Brett Farmiloe, CEO of Featured, which owns HARO.
Earned media now serves double duty. One practitioner’s 16-month analysis of 166 media placements found 84% appeared in outlets with measurable AI visibility in large language models. Another agency’s client research showed that 30-45% of AI prompt answers draw on editorial and earned media. The press landscape has fragmented into a longer tail, with op-eds, trade publications, independent Substacks, and source-request platforms replacing the single big-splash placement.
Creators now function as media outlets, with PR teams researching influencers like journalists, commissioning editorial-style content, and brokering non-paid YouTube collaborations. As AI-generated pitches flood journalist inboxes, practitioners are returning to phone calls, in-person events, and long-term relationships—the human layer that practitioners say is the differentiator.
'PR has always been about delivering a timely and honest message in an interesting way,' said Devon Blaine, who has operated The Blaine Group for 51 years, in the report. The full report, including all 38 practices and a practitioner FAQ on AI, GEO, and measurement, is available at https://blog.helpareporter.com/what-is-pr/.
