How can you get your organisation mentioned in AI-generated answers?
It is a question we are increasingly being asked by the comms and PR professionals we work with as the way people search and find information evolves.
It was even asked during a recent Media Team Academy masterclass.
And a new report has shone further light on the subject.
It comes from Muck Rack.
Its attention-grabbing report analysed more than one million links from AI responses.
And it shows media coverage has a huge impact on what AI says.
It reveals that 95 per cent of all links cited by AI are from non-paid media and that 85 per cent of them are earned media.
And 27 per cent of all links cited by AI are journalistic. That number jumps to almost 50 per cent when requested answers need recency.
Unlike traditional search engine optimisation, paid ads and marketing content have little impact on AI-generated responses,
What also emerges from the report is that AI typically cites well-known, authoritative and trusted sources
Reuters, the Financial Times, Forbes and Times, for example, are top media outlets cited by ChatGPT and Gemini. CNBC, the Harvard Business Review and Good Housekeeping are among the top media outlets cited by Claude.
And timeliness is prioritised, with a strong bias towards stories published in the past 12 months. Those behind the report have said that content gets cited within 24 or 36 hours of publication.
While the big, high authority outlets appear to dominate citations, there is also plenty of room for trade publications and niche websites. The report shows that when asked about specific industries, AI turns to publications covering those sectors.
AI offers many advantages for comms and PR professionals and can help boost productivity and quality of work.
We have a brilliant AI-powered training tool called Thirty Seven that helps spokespeople prepare for media interviews and presentations and keeps their skills sharp.
But while AI is bringing in significant changes – and the pace of those changes feels rapid - some traditional values remain vital.
And that’s good news for comms and PR professionals.
There is a quote from Greg Galant, the cofounder and CEO of Muck Rack, that neatly sums up what the findings of this report mean.
He said: “This study is an eye-opener for PR and communications teams aiming to understand how media mentions influence AI-generated content.
“Until now, we’ve had theories and early signals—but now we’ve got solid evidence that earned media directly influences AI-generated output.
“This changes the stakes for PR. The way businesses are represented by AI now ties directly to the media coverage they earn.”
Jonathan Pollinger, an AI expert and one of our brilliant social media training course tutors, agrees,
He said: “High‑quality, timely media coverage now shapes both human opinion and AI answers.
“If you miss this opportunity, you miss being discovered.”
Falling circulation numbers and the closures of some newspapers are often used to question the value of traditional media and its impact in the evolving media landscape.
But this report shows there remains huge value in high-authority, credible and trusted media coverage and third-party reports.
The machines trust the likes of Reuters, the Associated Press and The Financial Times.
Gaining coverage in local, trade and national media not only builds credibility, authority and visibility but also increases discoverability in the age of AI.
And that means timely content and great stories told well have never been more crucial.
Want to be noticed by the AI bots and picked up by their searches? Get in the media.
Media First are media and communications training specialists with nearly 40 years of experience. We have a team of trainers, each with decades of experience working as journalists, presenters, communications coaches and media trainers.
Click here to find out more about our media training and social media training courses. And click here to learn more about Thirty Seven.
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