Q&A with Brandi AI CEO and Co-Founder Leah Nurik
Note: This blog post is based on Episode 255 of The PR Podcast, titled “Leah Nurik, Brandi AI, on What You’re Teaching AI and How To Do It,” June 22, 2026.
How is AI changing PR? As buyers, journalists, analysts, and investors increasingly turn to AI platforms to research companies, compare vendors, and form opinions, public relations is entering a new era. Brands no longer need to think only about how they appear in search results. They also need to understand how they are described, recommended, and cited in AI-generated answers.
In this Q&A, Leah Nurik, CEO and co-founder of Brandi AI, discusses how AI search differs from traditional search, why PR professionals are central to this shift, and how brands can build the credibility, authority, and originality needed to show up in AI-first discovery channels.
Key Takeaways
- AI search is shifting brand discovery from keyword matching to credibility, authority, and storytelling.
- PR teams now play a central role in shaping how brands appear, are cited, and are described in AI-generated answers.
- Owned content, earned media, thought leadership, and public proof points all influence AI visibility and sentiment.
- Generic AI-generated content is not enough; brands need original, credible, and differentiated ideas.
- AI visibility gives communications teams new ways to measure the impact of media coverage, content, and messaging.
Q: What is Brandi AI, and why was it created as a platform focused on brand intelligence and AI visibility?
Leah Nurik: Before starting Brandi AI, I ran a marketing agency focused on public relations, product marketing, and go-to-market strategy. We were doing a lot of great work for clients through media coverage, messaging, and owned content, but we wanted to better understand how that work was affecting how those clients were showing up in AI-generated answers.
We started exploring the issue and realized there was a real problem in the market. Some platforms were offering light monitoring, but as PR and communications professionals, we knew storytelling goes far beyond measuring a keyword. We wanted to understand how the work of communications professionals, brand strategists, and marketers was influencing brand positioning in AI answers.
That led us to bring together technologists and domain experts to build Brandi AI. Eventually, I left the agency to focus fully on the platform.
Q: How is AI search different from traditional Google search, and why does that shift matter for brand discovery?
Leah Nurik: That is really the fundamental shift. Traditional online search was largely keyword-driven. It was about matching one keyword to another keyword.
AI search is different. It is much more semantic. It is about understanding the intent behind a person’s question and then determining what larger story, set of signals, and public evidence should be used to return an answer.
That means AI search is much more connected to credibility, authority, market definition, category leadership, and consistency across the broader digital ecosystem. The shift is from keyword matching to storytelling.
For PR professionals, brand strategists, marketers, and content creators, that is a dramatic change. It puts their work much closer to the center of online discoverability.
Q: How can brands improve how they appear in AI-generated answers without trying to game the system?
Leah Nurik: The first thing to understand is that there are no tricks. Brands cannot game their way into better representation in AI search. One of the most interesting things about this new environment is that it holds brands accountable for delivering on their brand promise.
As communications professionals, that should be exciting. We are storytellers. We take complex ideas and break them down into clear, compelling narratives. We understand that brand value comes from multiple pillars, facts, proof points, and messages coming together to tell a larger story.
The work PR professionals, communications teams, product marketers, and brand strategists have always done still matters. What changes is the level of insight available. For example, a brand may need to understand which outlets, domains, or sources are considered most authoritative in its specific market. A top-tier outlet for one industry may not be the most valuable source for another.
That matters because AI does not treat every market the same way. The most authoritative sources for a B2B CRM company may be very different from the most authoritative sources for a running shoe company.
Q: How should PR teams rethink media relations when AI answer engines are becoming part of the discovery process?
Leah Nurik: Absolutely. PR teams need to know which outlets matter not only to human audiences, but also to AI systems. Some publications structure their content in ways that make it more readable and returnable by AI. Some outlets may be highly respected but less visible in AI answers because of how they restrict access to their content.
That does not mean AI is the only audience. PR is still about reaching people, building relationships, and shaping public understanding. But AI is now part of the audience ecosystem. It is one of the ways people are connected to the brands, products, and ideas they are researching.
The ability to identify which sources carry authority in a given market helps PR teams decide where to place a byline, where to pitch a story, or where to prioritize outreach.
Q: Why is owned content important for improving AI visibility and brand authority?
Leah Nurik: Owned content is one of the most powerful parts of a brand intelligence and AI visibility strategy because the brand controls it.
For a while, many organizations moved budget away from ongoing owned content production because they were focused on digital traffic, conversion, and keyword performance. But AI has changed the value of owned content.
If owned content is structured well, it can be read, returned, and summarized by AI systems. AI tends to reward content that is authoritative, credible, and recent. Across the Brandi AI ecosystem, we see that a large share of domain citations in AI answers come from relatively recent content.
That means having the right answer a year ago does not necessarily mean a brand still has the answer now. PR and communications need to be ongoing, dynamic disciplines. The message has to stay current, authoritative, and aligned with what the market is asking.
Q: How can AI visibility measurement help PR teams prove the business impact of media coverage and content?
Leah Nurik: Yes, and that is one of the most exciting changes for PR professionals.
For the first time, PR teams can draw a clearer line between an action they took, a piece of media coverage they secured, or a piece of content they published, and how that affected AI visibility. They can see how coverage influenced brand mentions, citations, and sentiment in AI-generated answers.
PR has always influenced business outcomes, but many of those effects were hard to explain to more analytically minded executives. Now, communications teams can point to measurable changes in how a brand appears in AI search.
That gives PR teams stronger key performance indicators and a stronger way to demonstrate their value.
Q: How should communications teams write press releases, bylines, blogs, and other content for AI visibility?
Leah Nurik: Press releases still serve multiple purposes. They are not only about being picked up by AI. They help communicate with investors, establish market leadership, support sales conversations, and communicate important company news.
But it is important to understand what makes content readable and useful to AI. Content should be clear, structured, and grounded in credible information. It should be optimized for AI, but not written for AI.
That distinction matters. There is no magic button that generates content and guarantees visibility. If someone claims that you can generate a large volume of generic AI content and expect it to rank or perform well in AI answers, that is not a future-proof strategy.
AI looks for uniqueness, credibility, and authority. Content that simply repurposes what already exists does not set a brand apart.
Q: Why is generic AI-generated content not enough to improve brand visibility in AI search?
Leah Nurik: Correct. If AI already knows something exists, repeating it does not make a brand new, unique, or credible.
Communications professionals are hired because they know how to tell differentiated stories. They know how to take complex ideas and make them meaningful. They bring creativity, judgment, emotional intelligence, and strategic thinking.
That human element is more important than ever. Brands need original thinking, clear differentiation, and credible storytelling. AI-generated sameness is not going to future-proof a brand.
For creatives and communications professionals, that should be encouraging. The work they do is not becoming less important. It is becoming more important.
Q: What content best practices help brands create AI-readable, credible, and useful material?
Leah Nurik: Brands need to start by understanding what their audiences are actually asking. What are their pain points? What frustrations do they have? What questions are they bringing to AI platforms?
For one audience, that might mean someone looking for running shoes because they pronate or have a specific health concern. For another, it might mean a buyer asking what features to look for in ERP software for a particular industry.
The key is to identify those real questions and pain points, then create content that addresses them in a credible, useful, and structured way.
Content should include clear facts, metrics, examples, and proof points. It should be organized in a way that is easy for both people and AI systems to understand. But a human still needs to make the judgment calls. The platform can provide intelligence and guidance, but the creativity and originality need to come from people.
Q: How can PR teams monitor whether earned media, owned content, and public messaging are influencing AI-generated answers?
Leah Nurik: Yes. That is where the platform becomes especially valuable for PR teams.
Every piece of coverage or action can be tracked to understand how it affects AI visibility. A team can see whether a piece of media coverage increases how often a brand appears in AI answers. They can also see how public communications affect sentiment.
That is particularly important in areas like crisis communications. If a brand faces a crisis and sentiment drops, communications teams can track how earned media, owned content, and public messaging influence sentiment over time in AI-generated answers.
That creates a new way to demonstrate the impact of communications work.
Q: Which channels should brands prioritize to improve AI visibility across their specific market or industry?
Leah Nurik: It depends on the market. Every industry is different.
In one market, Reddit may be a major source. In another, LinkedIn or YouTube may be highly influential. In another, Forbes, industry publications, or niche communities may carry more weight.
The first step is to understand where authority exists in your specific space. Once you know which sources matter, you can prioritize action.
For PR teams, that may mean pitching the publications or outlets that AI systems treat as authoritative in that category. For brands more broadly, a strong place to start is auditing the company website and producing well-structured owned content on a consistent basis.
Owned blogs, if they are useful, credible, and properly structured, give brands a way to control and clarify their message.
Q: Is AI visibility bringing public relations back to fundamentals like credibility, storytelling, and consistency?
Leah Nurik: In many ways, yes.
There is no shortcut around strong brand storytelling, integrity, and hard work. AI visibility is not about tricking the system. It is about being clear, credible, current, and mission-driven.
That does not mean it takes forever to see results. A press release on a wire, for example, can begin driving more mentions relatively quickly. But long-term brand integrity and brand storytelling still require sustained effort.
The data shows that what matters most is content and coverage that is recent, authoritative, and credible. Brands need to keep earning coverage, producing owned content, and aligning their communications with their actual values and mission.
Q: What should PR professionals understand about their role in shaping AI-generated brand discovery?
Leah Nurik: PR professionals are more important than ever.
AI is changing how brands are discovered, evaluated, and trusted. But the signals AI uses are shaped by the work communications teams have always done: media coverage, thought leadership, owned content, messaging, public proof, and consistent storytelling.
The opportunity now is to connect that work to measurable AI visibility and sentiment. PR teams can show how their work influences what AI says about a brand, how often the brand appears, what sources are cited, and how the brand is positioned.
That is a major shift, and it gives communications professionals a stronger role in shaping the future of brand discovery.
Ready to See How Your Brand Shows Up in AI Answers
As AI becomes a new front door to brand discovery, communications teams need to know whether their companies are being found, cited, and described accurately in AI-generated answers. Brandi AI helps PR, marketing, and communications teams measure AI visibility, understand the sources shaping brand perception, and identify the actions that can improve how their brands appear across AI answer engines.
Schedule a Brandi AI demo to see how your brand shows up in AI search and what you can do to improve visibility, credibility, and sentiment in AI-generated answers.