We hear it all the time: Artificial intelligence is coming for you—well, your job. There is a lot of anxiety in the business world, and for good reason: these are uncharted waters. A decade ago, we had no idea about OpenAI, ChatGPT or large language models (LLMs), but you can’t escape them today. Plus, LLMs are only one example of new AI technologies.
The public relations industry is on high alert, and I speak with PR experts daily on potential disruption. According to a recent article in the Atlantic (registration required), PR professionals could easily be displaced, and some are deliberately telling C-suite clients to keep quiet about job cuts. The AI economy is very complex, and we need to have nuance. Yes, many people in various industries are at risk of displacement, and some have been replaced already. And yes, many skills that are important in PR—such as drafting website copy or posting on social media—lend themselves to LLM “expertise” for a fraction of the cost.
But, like with any high-skill industry, the best PR professionals will still stand out. Because they are the cream of the crop, they can put up a much better fight against AI disruption.
Finding Your Advantage
The question that college students and entry-level employees, as well as more experienced workers, need to ask is simple: How do I become irreplaceable? What about me can’t be swapped out for an LLM?
What makes you irreplaceable is a strong personal brand. It is a strong reputation for not just experience, but expertise. Whether it has to do with communications strategy, content creation, media relations, Google search engine optimization (SEO) or the LLM itself, now is the time to identify your competitive advantage and make it even more of an advantage. AI can easily replace “run-of-the-mill,” but we’re not supposed to be just average. When clients are depending on us, we should be trying to excel anyway.
There are different ways for cream to rise. One is a wide network of contacts, whether it’s potential clientele, existing clients who can refer you or journalists who need you to pitch them. These people are your best brand ambassadors—they know, like and trust you to deliver.
Another way is to promote thought leadership, so people know that you’re a subject matter expert. From writing opinion columns like this one to posting valuable content on LinkedIn, you want to convey a reputation of professional know-how. These days, that means knowing how to use AI to your advantage; there is no excuse to avoid AI when it is such a helpful tool. Especially when it comes to LLMs, the most innovative, intuitive PR experts will use Google Gemini or Claude to save time and boost efficiency. This applies to media research just like it does formulating an appealing pitch or figuring out when to pitch news in the first place.
Using AI To Your Advantage
One thing is clear: AI is not going away. We have no choice but to be adopters if the goal is to increase productivity and deliver results for clients. For example, on a daily basis, I use ChatGPT for tasks as small as finding an email address for a journalist I want to contact to assembling media lists and even researching the background of a particular journalist to see the type of news they cover and figure out how to pitch them.
PR is a displaceable industry where disruption is already happening. If you’re just writing X posts for a living or studying spreadsheets of media contacts, that probably isn’t enough on its own to succeed. But if you’re being strategic and thinking holistically and really trying to match tactics to the client, campaign and the news cycle, then we’re talking! Rather than being replaced by AI, smart PR people will be able to use it to get more done. Period.
In PR, we can no longer just expect one or two skills to be enough. We can no longer just execute; we have to be strategists in every sense, thinking in ways that LLMs can’t (at least not yet). In other words, you want to be known as the PR person, not just a PR person.
Be the PR professional who is truly irreplaceable. You will be safe—and successful.
This article originally appeared on the Forbes Agency Council CommunityVoice in April 2026.
