When Muck Rack compared the journalists PR teams pitch most often with the journalists AI engines cite most for a given brand, the lists overlapped by just 2% on average. That was the headline finding Natan Edelsburg, Muck Rack's Chief Partnerships Officer, brought to a roomful of PRSA Austin members and guests on September 23, as he walked through the company's latest What Is AI Reading? research.

The good news for our profession is that earned media still dominates. About 99% of the links AI cites come from non-paid sources, and earned media alone accounts for 84%. Traditional journalism makes up roughly 27% of all cited links. Media relations still matters. It's just reaching a different set of outlets than many pitch lists are built around.

Those outlets also depend on which AI your audience uses. Reddit is Gemini's most-cited domain but barely appears for ChatGPT or Claude, and no single media outlet ranks in the top five across all three. Axios was a standout among news outlets: its stories are short and structured, and much of its content isn't behind a paywall. Natan's word for the most AI-friendly outlets was "open."

The takeaway: check your media list against what AI actually cites in your industry, keep your brand story consistent everywhere AI looks, including places like Wikipedia and Reddit, and keep investing in earned media. Thanks to Natan for making the trip, and to everyone who came out. Not a member yet? Join us.