A few weeks ago, at a wedding dinner with industry colleagues from around the world, it struck me how rarely we exchange ideas about AI with real depth. Global holding groups, independents, mature markets, emerging ones; each of us sees it differently, yet all of us recognise the shift underway.

We cannot define AI’s impact on PR in a single conversation, but engaging with it is important. AI is no longer about if but how. It is here to stay, and it will reshape our work whether we lean into it or not. Leaders who treat it as optional risk quietly losing momentum and competitive edge, not because they lack resources, but because they resist a transformation already in motion.

Perspective shapes the debate

One of the clearest lessons from the past two years is that the AI debate in PR is shaped less by technology and more by the pressures and priorities of each organisation. Agency models naturally create different perspectives, not better or worse, simply different.

In global networks, AI decisions often sit at the organisational level and are tied to scalability and shareholder expectations. Recent mergers, where AI investment features prominently in consolidation plans, reinforce this lens. When AI becomes linked to job reductions, teams develop a cautious or negative predisposition, not because of the technology, but because of the context in which it is introduced.

Smaller and mid-sized agencies face different realities. With fewer layers and need for more cross-generational collaboration, they have the agility to experiment faster. Early adoption becomes about building smarter and faster systems that improve work quality and team wellbeing. In this context, AI becomes an enabler, a way to ease operational pressure and unlock contribution beyond technical limitations.

Neither approach is inherently right or wrong. What matters is the narrative an organisation builds around AI, because it shapes team outcomes. In a field where our impact depends on strong systems, our mindset toward AI will determine both our efficiency and our pace of evolution.

From curiosity to integration

At our agency, Umami, AI exploration began the moment tools like ChatGPT became publicly accessible in late 2022. Month-end reporting, a universally dreaded and time-consuming task, was the first to be challenged within our department. Instead of accepting it as part of PR life, we built an automated reporting system designed around our data that rebuilt a core part of our internal processes. Once integrated, the shift was clear: speed, accuracy, consistency and a psychological release for the team. Some colleagues embraced it early; others resisted, as people naturally do when facing new tools. Eventually, even the skeptics admitted they could not imagine going back.

The key learning was simple: integrating AI is not about replacing human capability; it is about freeing it. When we remove the administrative weight that holds teams down, it becomes even clearer that the heart of PR is, and always will be, profoundly human.

AI strengthens PR’s human core

There is a common fear that AI threatens the human essence of PR. In reality, when used right, it highlights it. By absorbing repetitive operational tasks, AI reveals where our real value lies: judgment, cultural fluency, taste and tone, relationships and the ability to understand people. These are not skills machines can mimic; they sit at the core of effective communication.

What AI does is create space for these qualities to thrive. It frees teams to think, advise and create, rather than operate in administrative mode. In my own leadership, AI has become a strategic thought partner, a way to pressure-test ideas and uncover blind spots, sharpening the human dimension of my work.
Recognising this exposes a deeper issue holding our industry back.

The belief we must challenge

A persistent idea continues to slow progress: the assumption that using AI to improve efficiency makes the work less meaningful. This misconception has accompanied every major technological shift, and it overlooks a simple truth; tools do not diminish craft, they expand what we can do with it.

We would never call a surgeon lazy for using robotics that improve precision, nor accuse an architect of cutting corners for relying on modelling software. Yet in PR, AI-driven efficiency is sometimes framed as a shortcut rather than an enabler. The danger is not the technology; it is the bias attached to it.

This mindset is particularly damaging in a profession defined by pace, complexity and constant reinvention. If leaders treat AI as a threat rather than a capability, they risk slowing their teams at the moment the industry needs to accelerate.

The future of PR will not be shaped by those who fear new technology, but by those who approach it with ethical clarity, creativity and purpose.

Theda Soldatou is the PR Director at Umami.