AI Made PR More Important Than Ever. Getting It Wrong Can Destroy Your Brand - with Matias Rodsevich

In this episode, Matias Rodsevich, founder of PRLab ‪@prlabagency‬ , explains why PR in 2026 is essential for brands competing for visibility in AI search. As artificial intelligence in public relations becomes more influential, media mentions do more than support reputation and rankings. They help determine which companies AI tools understand, trust, and recommend. Hosted by Just AI News editor-in-chief Paulo Iñaki Palma, this conversation explores the work of PRLab, a global B2B tech PR agency supporting startups and scale-ups across AI, robotics, biotech, fintech, and medtech. Matias shares why he launched the agency more than eight years ago after struggling to find a PR partner focused on creating news rather than simply distributing it. He also explains how public relations and AI now work together, what PR means for SEO and GEO, and why brands that neglect these areas risk losing visibility. 🔗 Previous Episode:    • Can AI Replace a Therapist? Why People Pic...   The biggest shift in PR and AI is not what most people expect. It is not about losing backlinks or shrinking newsrooms. It is about media mentions and how AI tools use them to decide which brands to recommend. A small trade outlet that would have been dismissed three years ago can now get a brand featured in LLM results just as effectively as a national newspaper. AI tools rely on third-party media coverage to shortlist brands. If your company is not being mentioned in specialized media, it will not appear in AI answers. Matias also addresses the growing risk of lazy AI use in PR, why outsourcing thinking to a tool makes every brand sound the same, and why the AI role in PR is not to replace teams but to expose the ones that were never doing real work. Understanding the role of PR in SEO and GEO is now a business priority, not a marketing nice-to-have. This episode covers what has changed, what has not, and what brands of every size should be doing right now to stay visible in a world where people search with AI instead of Google. Topics covered include: public relations and AI, AI role in PR, role of PR in SEO and GEO, how to get featured in AI and LLM results, the PR paradox for startups, why media mentions now matter more than backlinks, how AI changed journalist outreach, the ten elements of newsworthiness, GEO optimization for brands, and the future of earned media strategy. ❓ FAQs Q1: What is the role of PR in SEO and GEO today? PR directly influences both SEO and GEO by generating media mentions that signal credibility to search engines and AI tools. When a brand is consistently mentioned in trusted, specialized outlets, AI tools are more likely to recommend it in search results. Earned media coverage is now one of the most reliable ways to improve visibility in both traditional search and AI-generated answers. Q2: How do PR and AI work together for brand visibility? AI tools rely on third-party media coverage to decide which brands to feature in their results. When someone asks an AI tool for the best software or agency in a specific field, it pulls from listical articles and trusted media sources to build its answer. Consistent PR activity in specialized outlets increases the chances of a brand appearing in those AI responses regularly. Q3: Can AI replace PR teams? No. The core of PR is building relationships, earning trust, and shaping perceptions. These are human activities. Journalists are already rejecting pitches from AI-generated sources that cannot be verified. AI can support research, monitoring, and drafting, but the AI role in PR is to assist, not to lead. Strategy, storytelling, and media relationships still require people to work. Q4: Why do startups fail at public relations and AI visibility? Most startups treat PR as optional until they have budget for it. The result is that strong products go unnoticed while noisier competitors get all the attention. Without consistent media mentions, AI tools have no reliable signal to recommend a brand. The role of PR in SEO and GEO compounds over time, which means starting late always costs more than starting early. ⏱️ Timestamps 00:00 — Introduction 00:49 — What PRLab does and who Matias is 01:27 — Why Matias founded PRLab 03:24 — How the meaning of good PR has changed 05:44 — How PR teams keep up with constant change 09:31 — Is PR more important than ever? 11:15 — Does every company need PR? 14:30 — Has AI weakened PR or made it stronger? 16:55 — The biggest change AI is bringing to PR 18:09 — How AI is changing the way PR teams work 24:17 — How PRLab uses AI in practice 27:42 — Are brands writing for people, Google, or AI? 33:56 — How companies can become more visible in AI answers 35:54 — Could AI replace PR teams? 39:52 — How to stand out in a journalist’s inbox 42:10 — The future of PR in an AI-driven world 43:38 — Conclusion #PR #PublicRelations #PublicRelationsAndAI #AIRoleInPR #PRandAI #PRinSEOandGEO #TechPR #LLMVisibility #EarnedMedia #PRforStartups #JustAINews #RealWorldAITalks