The Gut Check PR Was Already Asking For

PR professionals have made their position on AI clear. They'll use it. They just won't hand it the keys.

That's the takeaway from the second annual AI in PR survey from PRWeek and Boston University, which gathered 428 responses from in-house and agency communicators between March and May. Researchers describe the profession as entering a stage of "pragmatic adoption." AI shows up everywhere in everyday work, but strategy, judgment and the final call stay firmly human.

We read that as good news. Because pragmatic adoption is exactly what SmartFocus.ai was built for.

Where PR Actually Trusts AI

Respondents rated the credibility of human- versus AI-produced work across nine PR tasks on a scale where 0 means human work is more credible and 100 means AI's is, so 50 is the dividing line. AI landed above it on only two: writing assistance (53.98) and data analysis or insights generation (53.55). Everything else fell on the human side.

The same pattern shows up in the workflow. Asked how often they use AI at each stage, on a 1-to-5 scale from "never" to "frequently," respondents ranked research (3.81) and drafting (3.75) highest, the earliest stages of the communications process. Further down the line, in pitching, monitoring and crisis work, communicators still want people in charge.

In other words, PR trusts AI most at the point where ideas are still forming and insight matters most. That's precisely when a focus group should happen. It's also when most teams skip one, because traditional research takes weeks and a budget few teams have.

SmartFocus closes that gap. Describe what you want to test, and SmartFocus builds a custom focus group of scenario-aware personas. A moderator runs the session, and you get a structured, presentation-ready report in minutes.

A Gut Check, Not a Replacement

The most telling number in the survey may be the lowest of the trust measures. On a 1-to-5 scale where 5 is strong agreement and 1 is strong disagreement, deferring to AI's recommendations rather than their own judgment scored a 1.74, meaning PR pros firmly reject the idea.

Yet they're happy to review AI's suggestions before making decisions (3.94) and to use AI to verify their own ideas before finalizing them (3.43). Researchers summed up the role communicators want AI to play as a "gut check."

That's the right role, and it's how SmartFocus works. The platform doesn't make your call. It shows you how an audience is likely to react; surfaces objections you didn't anticipate and reveals why one concept lands better than another. You watch the conversation unfold, jump in when something matters and decide what to do with it. The judgment stays yours. It's just better informed.

Built for Communicators, Not Engineers

The survey also exposed a growing skills gap. On a 1-to-5 comfort scale, respondents are comfortable writing prompts for generative AI (3.79), but comfort drops sharply for more advanced work: creating AI agents (2.05), maintaining them (2.11) and prompting predictive AI (2.28). Many organizations also report limited AI infrastructure (2.69).

SmartFocus requires none of that. There are no agents to build, no models to train and no IT project to approve. SmartFocus guides you through objectives, participants, moderator and questions, one step at a time. If you can brief a colleague, you can run a focus group.

That matters, because communicators are feeling the squeeze. Respondents report strong pressure to keep up with AI-related changes in their jobs (3.93). The answer isn't another complicated system. It's a tool that delivers value from the very first session.

Insight That Stays On Call

Boston University's lead researcher on the survey, Arunima Krishna, warned that AI is evolving so quickly that new tools can turn into ongoing drains on both money and time as teams keep retraining.

Traditional focus groups have their own version of that problem. They're one-time snapshots, and by the time your campaign evolves, the findings are already out of date.

SmartFocus groups stay open. Return to the same group to ask follow-up questions, test a revised headline or explore a new direction as your strategy changes. One session becomes an ongoing strategic resource, not a sunk cost.

Confidence Before It Counts

Respondents remain cautious about AI in high-stakes areas like issues and crisis management, and for good reason. Crisis communication demands human judgment. But human judgment works best when it's been pressure-tested.

With SmartFocus, communicators can rehearse how a statement, talking point or spokesperson response is likely to land with key audiences before it faces reporters or the public. And because testing happens on the platform, sensitive messaging never has to be shared with outside research firms or recruited participants. You still lead the response. You just lead it knowing more.

The Profession Has Spoken

The PRWeek and Boston University findings paint a clear picture of what communicators want from AI: fast insight early in the process, tools they can use without specialized expertise and full control over the final decision.

That's a pretty good description of SmartFocus.ai.

The best communicators aren't handing their judgment to AI. They're giving their own judgment something better to work with.

Ready to move your ideas forward? Start your first focus group.

Source: PRWeek and Boston University AI in PR Survey, PRWeek, September–October 2026.