AI-powered discovery is making public relations valuable again
As AI changes how people find answers, the public perception companies build may become their most cherished business asset.
For years, companies streamlined their budgets into heavily buying brand visibility through search advertising at the expense of investments in more traditional public relations efforts. But now, AI-powered discovery is forcing leaders to take a fresh look at the activities that help organizations become recognized sources, including earned media, executive thought leadership, and participation in industry conversations. This month’s feature examines why those investments deserve renewed attention from corporate leaders.
From the Board
Give your CEO a point of view others can use
CEO Brand & Executive Persona Lab
December 2, 9 & 16 | Wednesdays, 12–1:30 PM ET
The executives people quote, invite and call contribute something useful. They explain industry challenges, offer informed perspectives and give audiences a reason to return.
Our three-week online CEO Brand & Executive Persona Lab helps communications professionals build that recognizable executive voice and identity. Participants will develop practical frameworks for CEO positioning, conversational leadership, media and speaking strategy, and extending the value of each executive appearance.
Five Executive Takeaways
1. AI-powered discovery adds another reason to invest in public relations. Earned media, original research and substantive executive contributions create material that audiences and information systems can encounter, evaluate and reference.
2. Executive expertise needs a clear territory. A recognizable voice is created when leaders consistently contribute useful perspectives on issues they understand and that matter to their organizations.
3. Public appetite for CEO advocacy depends on the issue. Stanford’s latest research finds declining overall support for CEO activism, alongside continued interest in positions connected to the business and its stakeholders.
4. Independent creators are part of the credibility landscape. Research on political news shows that audiences can place substantial trust in individual creators while still distinguishing them from professional journalists.
5. Recognizing unreliable information does not eliminate its influence. Experimental research found that people could recognize that questionable sources had affected their decisions while remaining susceptible to them.
Why It Matters
The U.S. midterm elections put questions of voice, influence and credibility into sharp focus. But those questions also shape everyday business communications.
Today, organizations are competing to become the go-to sources people recognize and consult. Their public perception and brand is built on media reporting about the company, the thought leadership expertise of their executives, the evidence behind their positions, and the way they respond when challenged by other leading voices.
AI-powered discovery adds another audience. Meanwhile, people continue to judge whether a leader has something useful to contribute and a credible reason to speak on a topic.
More and more, the strategic question is becoming what should people turn to your organization to understand?
–The Communications Board Team
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Industry Research
In this election-week edition, three studies examine public expectations of executive speech, trust in news sources and the influence of unreliable information
Americans are more selective about when CEOs should speak
Stanford’s 2026 CEO Activism Survey, conducted with 2,807 Americans, found that approximately 55 percent support CEOs advocating for social and political issues they care about, down from 65 percent in 2018. Support varies considerably by topic, with greater acceptance of advocacy connected to business concerns.
Implications: A CEO’s reason for entering a debate is part of how the message is received. Business relevance, stakeholder expectations and the organization’s own conduct give audiences a basis for determining the value of a CEO’s commentary.
YouTube edges ahead of TV as a political news source
A Syracuse University survey of 1,001 U.S. adults found that YouTube narrowly leads television as respondents’ most-used source for political and election news. Sixty-one percent said they trust a well-known independent news creator as much as a well-known journalist or major news organization on political topics, while 86 percent said public corrections increase their trust in independent creators.
Implications: Familiar individual voices now operate alongside established news organizations as trusted sources. The findings also point to how acknowledging an error can strengthen an audience’s confidence in the person providing information.
Unreliable information can influence people who know it is unreliable
Researchers at University of Tsukuba and Queen Mary University of London examined how people make decisions when information sources carry explicit numerical reliability ratings. Across five online experiments, even sources labeled as only 50 percent likely to be correct influenced choices.
Implications: Awareness and resistance are different things. Although the experiments used a controlled decision task rather than political news, they help explain why identifying a source as questionable may leave some of its influence intact.
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