What does the rise of AI fraudsters mean for media relations?

If you work in comms, you’ll have seen the growing noise around AI-generated fraudsters masquerading as brand experts. Press Gazette revealed more than 50 fake “experts” linked to over 1,000 media appearances, complete with AI-generated headshots, unverifiable bios, and SEO-driven commentary designed to win cheap ‑ backlinks.[1]

They weren’t fringe cases either. From bogus psychologists to fabricated biochemists, many were published in mainstream outlets after slipping through PR request platforms designed to connect journalists with “trusted” sources.

This surge of synthetic voices has created a real pressure point. Journalists can no longer take expertise at face value. And this is where the real shift is happening. They are tightening verification and prioritising credibility from every spokesperson they quote. That makes authentic human voices both more valuable and more scrutinised than ever.

Why do authentic voices matter in media relations?

AI can mimic tone. It can fabricate a biography. It can generate quotes. What it cannot do is replace the experience of a real human: their career history, their decisions, their successes and failures, their personality, their opinions. You get the idea.

That’s why this is the final nail in the coffin for the “spray-and-pray” approach to securing media inclusions. Brands need to focus on higher-trust approaches that make their spokespeople “go to experts” for journalists. In essence, it’s doubling down on what  best practice earned media relations:

1. Build a consistent, verifiable digital footprint: A spokesperson with a visible, consistent digital presence instantly strengthens their credibility. When journalists can see a track record of insight and opinion sharing across LinkedIn, past media commentary and event appearances, it becomes far easier to validate that this is a real expert with real experience
2. Ensure what you’re pitching is relevant: Journalists are receiving more noise than ever, and the rise of AI‑generated pitches has made irrelevant outreach feel even more careless. Targeting a journalist precisely, understanding their beat, and pitching relevant commentary signals a real human behind the message
3. Offer a unique and opinionated point of view: Strong spokespeople are experts who can explain what something means, why it matters, and where it’s going next. A defined POV moves beyond “what happened” to provide interpretation, insight and opinion. It’s how a spokesperson becomes someone the media proactively returns to
4. Humanise your expertise: Show journalists the human behind the title. AI can echo information, but it can’t draw on lived moments, such as personal or customer anecdotes. When spokespeople share real-world examples, they demonstrate authenticity and offer detailed, synthetic commentary that simply can’t be emulated
5. Show up with speed and reliability: When news breaks, journalists need real experts they can depend on quickly. In a landscape where AI can generate commentary instantly, the only way a human spokesperson can compete is through responsiveness. Journalists remember the people who consistently send an informative comment fast, or can jump on a call at short notice

AI fraudsters haven’t weakened the value of expert voices. They’ve heightened the need for it. Journalists want to know your spokesperson is real and credible, that they’ve got something interesting and timely to say, and that they will show up and deliver. It’s that simple.

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