The Future of PR: Melding AI Algorithms With Human Empathy
Advertising buys reach. Earned media builds trust. The first delivers speed and certainty; the second creates staying power, credibility, and resilience throughout a brand’s life cycle.
But credibility doesn’t happen on its own — it requires curiosity to uncover the story and empathy to make it resonate.
Here’s how two recent Proven Media Solutions panels provided the formula for the future of public relations – using curiosity and empathy to uncover stories that build trust and have long-term impact with AI algorithms.
Advertising’s Strengths, Earned Media’s Staying Power
While advertising can deliver speed and precision – as well as the certainty of paying for access – earned media delivers reputation, trust, and validation from third parties who cannot be bought. And Nicole Tidei of Pinkston, Sarah Groves of Sentir Consulting, and Jennifer Bowcock of RealPage all agreed that the validation is far more important for long-term brand credibility, especially when crises are waiting around every corner.
Advertising’s results are easy to quantify. Earned media’s value can feel harder to capture. That’s why panelists highlighted “talkability” — the cultural impact of being part of the conversation. Bowcock pointed out that Cracker Barrel’s controversial rebranding drove conversation that reignited consumer attention. That spark is hard to measure – and we don’t yet know if it lit a harmful or helpful fire – but being part of the conversation is important.
The rise of AI is blurring the distinction further. Earned placements fuel the datasets behind ChatGPT and Gemini. Paid opportunities increasingly resemble journalism, with sponsored Forbes and Insider “insights.” Inside corporations, communications and marketing roles are merging into single growth functions. The implication is clear: silos are outdated. Campaigns succeed when earned and paid work together.
Clarity is King
At their core, though, campaigns succeed or fail on clarity. What is the single main idea? What is the value proposition? If leaders can’t reduce a message to one sentence and define an audience in three traits, they aren’t ready to spend on the promise they’re making to the world.
And that promise is key. They’re built on uncovering the right words from the right people, and delivering them to target audiences the right way.
In other words: curiosity to pull out the story and empathy to deliver it. Which was the topic of another recent panel, featuring Lizzy Harris of The Colab and consultants Joshua Mansbach and Reid Wegley.
Why Curiosity and Empathy Matter
Empathy begins with people. Every relationship — from hiring to media pitching — depends on understanding motivations, pressures, and goals. A campaign isn’t about what a company wants to say; it’s about what audiences need to hear. That also includes empathy for the journalist. Don’t flood inboxes; carefully select who to contact and why. Help them do their job better in an era when media outlets are slashing budgets and closing doors.
Curiosity is the “data” of communications. Asking “why” and “how” uncovers the insights that shape strategy. It creates deep dives into a story to find the nugget…and the ability to deliver the nugget to the right people the right way. Even when a product or mission isn’t inherently exciting, curiosity uncovers compelling angles. Siggins highlighted a past client whose VP described its product as “boring.” But curiosity revealed that company was providing lifelines to struggling small businesses that wait months for government payments. That reframing, paired with empathy for those clients, created a campaign.
Can They Be Learned?
One major discussion was whether curiosity and empathy are innate or can be developed. Empathy requires vulnerability, something many professionals resist. Yet skills like listening, reflection, and perspective-taking can be taught and refined.
The distinction matters because communications without empathy risks becoming transactional. Listening with intent, making others feel important, and asking questions that show genuine interest turns tactics into trust.
It’s up to communications leaders to train team members on how curiosity and empathy are part of their success. Everyone learns differently, so leaders must apply these principles to the training. The passionate political activist making a professional transition to B2B public relations may not feel excited about lending, but will they be excited to achieve the client’s goal, or the challenge of breaking through the media noise?
And whether it’s with team members, the media, or clients – doing homework, listening, and coming prepared signal respect. And as Albert Einstein put it: “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”
From advertising to earned media, from strategy to storytelling, the throughline is unmistakable: PR is people-first. Budgets, campaigns, and AI tools may shift the landscape, but credibility, trust, and influence rest on human connection. Advertising accelerates awareness. Earned validates trust. Curiosity uncovers the story. Empathy ensures it resonates.
