AI and PR: Two Key Skills You Need

by Lateefah Jean-Baptiste:

As a communications and PR professional, what skills do I need to develop and refine to stay prepared for the future of our industry as it evolves with AI? 

That question was answered for me at a conference I attended last month with PRMoment.

The answer? Communications professionals should focus on two core areas: prompt engineering and Generative Engine Optimization:

Prompt Engineering

Prompt engineering is the practice of designing inputs for AI tools that will produce optimal outputs. If we take a tool like ChatGPT for example, prompt engineering is essentially about knowing how to phrase the right questions, commands, or requests to get the most useful, accurate, and relevant responses.

I first came across the term a while back during an introductory course on generative AI in March this year. Since then, I completed the IBM: Generative AI – Prompt Engineering Basics course, which gave me a stronger understanding of the concept. 

For communications professionals, prompt engineering is becoming an essential part of digital literacy, not just a technical skill. Whether we’re drafting content, generating campaign ideas, writing social posts, the way we interact with AI tools directly shapes the quality of the results we get.  To make the most of these tools, several speakers emphasized the importance of being specific. The more context you provide, the better the output. They also reminded us not to expect perfect results on the first try. Prompt engineering is an iterative process, and refining your inputs is key to getting stronger, more accurate outcomes over time.

Generative Engine Optimization

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the process of optimizing your website’s content to boost its visibility in AI-driven search engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Google AI Overviews. This is really important because ,let’s face it, more and more people are using tools like Chat GPT  as a search engine, expecting fast, reliable answers.

I first came across the term in this article in The Guardian, which serves as a great introduction to the concept. It opened my eyes to how AI tools are already shaping the way people access and trust information and how important it is that our content shows up in those spaces.

For communications professionals, GEO is becoming an increasingly vital part of our digital toolkit. That means we need to think beyond human audiences—our websites, campaigns, and content must also be optimized for AI visibility. At the event, Darryl Sparey, Co-founder and Managing Director of Hard Numbers, spoke about their agency’s recent report, which revealed: 61% of LLM responses are shaped by editorial content. In other words, earned media and owned content now play an even greater role in how our brands are represented by AI tools.

I left the event not only with many of my questions answered, but also with a wealth of knowledge that has helped me to start building a clear roadmap for my own professional development. It’s crucial that we, as communications professionals, take proactive steps now to deepen our understanding of AI —so we stay ahead of the curve, not left behind.

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Lateefah Jean-Baptiste is a Strategic Columnist and an expert in media communications, public relations, and storytelling. With a background as a former journalist, she combines creativity, strategic insight, and a deep understanding of media dynamics to deliver impactful communication strategies.

Written by: Editor