On the second Monday of every month, PRSA is offering AI Pulse, a briefing hosted by Ray Day, APR, PRSA’s 2026 immediate past chair, that provides timely insights into the latest AI trends, tools and developments. Learn how to stay ahead of an ever-evolving digital landscape here.
“We’re in the first inning of AI,” Peter McDermott said. “We’re going to figure this out, but we’re just at the beginning of it.”
McDermott, head of the corporate-affairs practice for consulting firm Korn Ferry in New York, was among the panelists on March 9 on “AI Pulse,” PRSA’s monthly briefing hosted by Ray Day, APR, vice chair of Stagwell, executive chair of Allison Worldwide, and PR’s 2026 immediate past chair.
Communicators are starting to look at AI less as a tool and more as an audience in itself, he said. “Writing your communications so that it can’t be misunderstood by AI” is becoming important. “Knowing how to write content for AI will get folded into career development.”
Panelist Jessamyn Katz is CEO of New York-based Heyman Associates, an executive-search firm specializing in communications.
“I’m thinking about AI as the latest tool in the communications toolbox that everyone needs to get smart on,” she said. “Those who are leaning into that opportunity are the ones who are going to excel. AI isn’t going to take your job, but the person who is better at using AI might.”
AI skills become essential for communicators
Panelist Anthony D’Angelo, APR, Fellow PRSA, is a professor of practice in public relations at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications.
Since ChatGPT’s debut in late 2022, “The speed of AI adoption is just astonishing,” he said. “There will be a lot of disruption, but I’m cautiously optimistic about where it will take us.”
During the Industrial Revolution, ditch diggers had to learn how to operate steam shovels, he said. “It’s the same for communicators with generative AI, with one key difference: Steam shovels don’t get better the more you use them. Generative AI does. We have to keep up with that.”
Day asked how well the PR profession is adapting to AI technology.
D’Angelo cited a report from Meltwater, a media intelligence company, which found that more than 90% of PR teams are already using generative AI to draft press releases, optimize content and brainstorm ideas. But only about half have policies in place governing how they use the technology.
“We are building this airplane as we fly it, and there’s risk involved in that,” D’Angelo said.
He added that graduating students must be able to answer this question in a job interview: “How would you add value to the use of today’s technology tools?”
If anyone can generate content by pushing a button, “It’s fair for an employer or a client to ask, ‘What do I need you for, PR person?’” D’Angelo said. “We have to educate our students and working professionals on how to add value to the use of those tools.”
Panelist Paula Davis is a member of the communications and corporate affairs practices at executive recruiter Heidrick & Struggles in New York.
“Over-relying on AI is a huge risk,” she said, as are “not having alignment in how your organization is using AI and not understanding how the large language models work.” When communications professionals look for jobs today, “having examples of how you’re using AI is very important.”
In her own work, “I will brainstorm with Claude AI, as I would a human,” she said. Davis also cautioned about the mental-health implications of over-humanizing artificial intelligence.
For communicators, the message from the panel was clear: AI will continue reshaping the profession, and those who learn to use it thoughtfully — rather than resist it — will be best positioned to lead.
Illustration credit: Umnat
