The AI-Powered PR Revolution: How to Stay Relevant, Human, and Hired

I recently spoke at the NMPRSA focusing on AI and PR. These are some of my thoughts.

Welcome to the intersection of AI and PR—where press releases get written faster than your intern can microwave their burrito, and brand crises are predicted before your CEO hits "Tweet".

I've been in the game long enough to remember the typewriter (and how good kerning mattered). Now, I'm juggling generative tools, automated dashboards, and an army of AI agents… all without losing that critical human touch. So let's break it down:

1. Media Monitoring and Sentiment Analysis:

AI doesn’t just count mentions anymore—it reads the room. It knows when the internet

is praising you, roasting you, or serving you up with a side of sarcasm.

Why it matters: With real-time NLP tools, PR pros can monitor how they’re being

perceived and jump into the conversation before the headline becomes the obituary.

2. Crisis Detection and Management:

AI’s pattern detection is now your early warning system. It sniffs out signals that

something’s about to blow—whether it’s a customer service fail or a TikTok takedown.

Why it matters: Prevention beats apology. And with AI, your damage control goes from

reactive to proactive.

3. Automated Content Creation:

Hey look, I’m using ChatGPT to help write this blog—meta, right? Tools like this are gold

for knocking out first drafts, boilerplate content, or even full press kits.

Why it matters: You save time. You stay on-brand. And you reserve your brain for the

juicy creative.

4. Personalized Communication at Scale:

Forget “Dear [First Name].” AI lets you segment and speak directly to micro-audiences,

at scale. It’s no longer mass blast—it’s mass precision.

Why it matters: Response rates spike, and your outreach finally sounds like it was

written by a human who cares (even if it wasn’t).

5. Performance Analytics and Reporting:

Dashboards that analyze everything from engagement to ROI are now powered by

machine learning. The difference? You get insights, not just data.

Why it matters: You can justify your campaign spend before the CFO gets itchy.

So What About Creativity?

As an illustrator, designer and lifelong visual storyteller, I’ve never been more excited.

GenAI lets me generate imagery like it’s a sketchpad on steroids. Need a blog? A podcast clip? A 9:16 vertical edit with captions and hashtags? I’m doing that in 5 minutes flat—Opus Clips, Descript, and HeyGen are my sidekicks. The Gary Vee playbook—“Turn 1 piece of content into 26”—has become my Tuesday afternoon routine.

Authenticity Check

Here’s the rub: Authenticity is the brand currency now. I always say—don’t lead with AI.

Lead with humanity. Let AI be your process, not your pitch. Keep your voice consistent.

Keep the relationship human. Clients hire people, not prompts.

You wouldn’t have bragged about using a typewriter in the Mad Men era. Same rule

applies here. Creative Dilution is Real

Too many hacks stop at “good enough.” But the real creatives—the ones who survive

this AI wave—are the ones who know how to edit, remix, and rethink. That’s where the

human spark shines.

Real Talk: Tools I Love

 HeyGen: Makes my avatar talk while I sip coffee.

 Opus Clips: Edits my podcast faster than I can say “SEO.”

 Custom GPTs: Tailored for each client’s tone, brand voice, and strategy.

Future of PR with AI?

We’re heading toward full automation of research, strategy, and even some design. But

if everyone’s feeding the same prompts into the same platforms, results will

become cookie-cutter. That’s where real creatives win—by infusing originality into the

machine.

Closing Thought

AI won’t replace PR pros. But PR pros who use AI will replace those who don’t. Adopt to

qualify. Adopt for empowerment. The displacement is coming, and RTO is the Trojan

horse. If you’re not sharpening your skills now, you may be on someone’s redundancy

roadmap.

Thanks to Leah Messina and Rachel Maestas for inviting me and the infamous Hailey

Wilson to share our views.

About the Author

Curt Doty, founder of CurtDoty.co, is an award winning creative director whose legacy lies in branding, product development, social strategy, integrated marketing, and User Experience Design. His work of entertainment branding includes Electronic Arts, EA Sports,

ProSieben, SAT.1, WBTV Latin America, Discovery Health, ABC, CBS, A&;E, StarTV, Fox, Kabel 1, and TV Guide Channel. He has extensive experience on AI-driven platforms MidJourney,

Adobe Firefly, ChatGPT, Perplexity, HeyGen, Descript and OpusClips. He also runs his AI consultancy RealmIQ and companion podcast RealmIQ: Sessions on YouTube and Spotify.

As a new writer, he released his first novella Griffin and the Dark Secret on Amazon under his imprint  MediaSlam Press  and is working on the second installment Griffin: Future Past.

He is a sought after public speaker having been featured at Streaming Media NYC, Digital Hollywood, Mobile Growth Association, Mobile Congress, App Growth Summit, Promax, CES,

CTIA, NAB, NATPE, MMA Global, New Mexico Angels, Santa Fe Business Incubator, EntrepeneursRx, Davos Worldwide, PRSANM, Robert Half, Santa Fe Entrepreneurs Network, and AI Impact. He has lectured at universities including Full Sail, SCAD, Art Center College

of Design, CSUN and Chapman University. He currently serves on the board of the Godfrey Reggio Foundation and is the AI Writer for ParlayMe.