AI's Role in Brand Reputation Grows Concerns Rise
News related to:Onclusive · 2 min read
75% of PR professionals say PR should lead AI visibility, but just 22% expect it to. Half of communications professionals rank AI assistants among the top three influences on brand reputation in 2027. The findings, published in Onclusive’s PR, Comms & Marketing 2027 Trends Outlook from Onclusive, reveal a growing disconnect between who PR professionals believe should own brand visibility in AI-generated answers and who they expect to take responsibility for it.
Half of respondents (50%) now place AI assistants among their top three sources shaping brand reputation in 2027, ahead of social platforms (45%) and search engines (32%). However, only 17% say their organization currently monitors AI visibility using a dedicated tool, highlighting a gap between the importance professionals place on AI visibility and the action being taken to measure it.
The report also highlights growing concern about the reputational risks of AI adoption. More than one in five (22%) PR professionals identify AI-generated content going wrong as a potential trigger for a brand crisis, more than double the 9% recorded in last year’s research. Among agency respondents, this rises to 27%, up from 9%. Meanwhile, one in ten respondents say their organization has no formal AI policy, raising questions about whether governance is keeping pace with adoption.
AI is also becoming more embedded in communications and marketing workflows. Almost half (47%) of respondents expect to use AI primarily for data and insights analysis in 2027, followed by writing, editing, and content creation (44%) and research and discovery (36%). In terms of adoption, half (50%) say AI is already embedded in several team workflows or more. However, 20% are still running pilots in selected workflows, while 28% report ad hoc individual use. This variation suggests organizations are at very different stages of integrating AI into their work.
The pressure on PR teams is also growing as they are expected to demonstrate the commercial value of their work. More than half (52%) of PR and communications respondents identify connecting PR to revenue and business growth as a key challenge, while 48% cite proving ROI beyond vanity metrics. As AI changes how brands are discovered and represented, demonstrating the impact of communications will require teams to look beyond traditional measures of media coverage.
The findings are part of Onclusive’s 2027 Trends Outlook, which explores the changing priorities, challenges, and expectations of communications and marketing professionals worldwide.
Onclusive surveyed 255 PR, communications, and marketing professionals between 29 September and 20 October 2026. The online survey was distributed across 13 markets: the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia. The survey was conducted in English, French, Spanish, and Italian. Respondents included in-house professionals, agency practitioners, consultants, and freelancers across a range of seniority levels.
The research builds on Onclusive’s inaugural 2026 Outlook report, allowing for comparisons in selected areas to understand how industry priorities and expectations have evolved.
We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.