This article was first published in the Yorkshire Post on 21st April 2026.

Your business reputation has always walked into a room before you do. Now AI is having its say, too. 

Large Language Models (LLMs) are influencing the way businesses are perceived and presented to the people using them to find products and services. In the business-to-business world, 89% of buyers are reported to be using generative AI in their purchasing process. This means buying decisions are well on the way to being made well before a prospective customer even thinks about contacting you.

We’ve experienced it ourselves: a buyer contacted us after searching Google for a PR agency with relevant industry expertise and being served 20+ search results. They asked an LLM, which gave them a researched and ready-made shortlist of just three companies - of which we were one - along with the reasons why those three companies were on the list.

LLMs are doing a lot of the legwork when it comes to research and shortlisting the ‘best’ providers for the job. They are becoming gatekeepers between you and the people you want to reach. This is why businesses need to treat AI as a stakeholder when they are planning PR activity. 

In the same way you think about prospective customers: who they are, their main drivers, and where they look for information, now you need to think about AI, too. Who are they (don’t lump them all together; different LLMs prioritise different information); what are they looking for (trust signals, authority, relevance and consistency) and where are they looking (owned channels, earned media, institutions and community sites). 

AI will look at your ‘owned’ channels, including your website and social presence. But it also looks far more widely at media outlets, trade bodies, industry associations, community sites and forums to find evidence that supports that messaging. The more everything matches up, and the more third party endorsement AI finds, the more credible your brand becomes and the more likely it is to be referenced and included in AI answers.

Research from PR management platform Muckrack says 85% of AI results are driven by citations in earned media, and the 2025 Coverage to Capital report states that brands with positive media profiles are more likely to win a head-to-head comparison in LLM search. The organisations that are successfully navigating AI search – also known as generative engine optimisation – are focusing their communications efforts on demonstrating expertise and building credibility across a range of channels beyond the ones they own and control themselves. 

Building an AI-conscious PR strategy means considering the AI visibility of your brand. It also means making sure your business is visible where LLMs look for information and ensuring this is backed by consistent messaging and third party endorsement that builds and enhances credibility. Not every channel will be relevant for your business and your PR strategy. As always, it’s about being strategic whilst considering where LLMs find information. 

So, yes - we are planning PR campaigns for clients that treat AI as a stakeholder with the ability to influence business visibility and shape reputation. But, when you break it down, many of the things AI is looking for – expertise, authority, relevance and trust - are the same things humans are looking for. Everything has changed, and nothing has changed. 

The Partners team is running a series of free workshops throughout 2026 on 'Staying Visible in an AI World'. Find out more and book here.