If someone asks you, “What’s your AI score?” you’d probably look at them funny, assume they want to sell you some kind of AI gadget or service, and move on.

For journalists, though, the term is taking on a more specific meaning. Now that AI services are essentially the new Google, AI answers are becoming the new battleground for who is considered authoritative on any particular topic. If your name or your outlet comes up again and again in queries about your beat, that means your AI mojo is high, and the world of public relations has begun quantifying it.

Back in March Muck Rack introduced its AI Visibility Badges, which sort journalists and outlets into tiers based on how often AI cites them, and Cision followed suit in July with a dashboard that shows which journalists turn up in AI answers. As PR firms look to safeguard their clients’ reputations, they’re increasingly paying attention to the narratives in AI answers. And journalists play an outsize role in shaping those narratives; studies have consistently shown that AI search engines prefer earned media to anything a brand pays for or publishes itself, and journalism alone accounts for 20–30% of the links they cite.

Public relations professionals have always paid close attention to influential journalists, of course, but the addition of AI into the mix has done two things: It’s allowed PR pros to attach numbers to the work they do, which has pushed them into a more strategic role at the companies they work for.

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