By Melissa Kinch
I recently was introduced to a friend of a friend who does a lot of work in AI. We met up to compare notes and chat about how AI is changing public relations.
During a robust conversation about the state of the industry, new friend asked me, “so what do you think the purpose of Communications and Marketing agencies is going to be in a few years?”
This stopped me in my tracks.
All I think about these days is how to adapt to Artificial Intelligence and to incorporate it into best-in-class communications consulting. Two-to-three times a day, I’m presenting trends on Generative AI search (GEO) or the threat of AI “Fake News” or how to use AI to improve creativity. But concern lurks under the surface for me about the future role of professionals in Communications.
His question forced me to really think about the value that experts and agencies will bring to brands and organizations.
There are some important jobs that experts will do (validating authenticity and battling misinformation comes to mind easily). But there is a central role strategists will play to help brands and leaders connect with their audiences: We’ll create, capture share, amplify and respond to Earned Human Moments (EHMs).
What do I mean by Earned Human Moments? More than ever, there will need to be transparent, very human interactions created and captured to feed the scrolls and the AI machines and the media. Earned Human Moments are what will break through the most.
After all, AI can create content and distribute content – including advertising campaigns that can bring a tear to your eye, press releases, graphics, listicles, videos, animations, white papers, videos, social posts. It can even customize all this content to each individual.
And AI will be (it already is in many ways) used to optimize all the data points about an individual – to sell us things, to entertain us, to persuade us during political campaigns, to educate us, to track our health, to track our likes and dislikes. And the content will be good. Humans may “review” and adjust final AI content in some cases, but it will be AI-generated and distributed.
So where does that leave Communications Strategists and Agencies?
Here’s the thing. Humans aren’t just a cluster of data points to be optimized. They are occasionally unpredictable (although AI experts would like to dispute that). People pay attention when they see other humans being human. They respond on a deep level to moments that aren’t easily scripted or anticipated. That is why Communications and Communications professionals will focus primarily on the storytelling power of human interactions. The small moments. The intimate moments. Not the highly produced content – the machines will take care of that.
How two (or a few) humans interact will become more important in creating messages and moments. Access to that intimate communication will become more powerful than ever. AI may then be used to distribute and riff on the story, but those authentic human connections will be the power of communication. The world will crave these moments.
So, we, Communications Strategists, will need to go small to go big. Small in the sense of what happens between a few people. Small in the sense of the unexpected things humans do when they are together. Small in the sense of the most raw encounters. Earned Human Moments (EHMs).
Like him or hate him, President Trump already understands Earned Human Moments. Think about all the fights, jokes, interactions, criticisms and praise he has deployed to get his message out. What appears as the unscripted, flawed and deeply human moments have become his communications superpower. Two (of many) examples:
- President Trump invites commentator and comedian Bill Maher to the White House for dinner (even though Maher has often criticized Trump). Maher calls it like he sees it in politics, but he has been mostly associated with the left. What happens? Maher comes back and shares on his HBO talk show details of the dinner. In particular, he tells stories about Trump seeming like a decent, normal guy with a sense of humor (even though relaying these stories brings criticism from many of Maher’s fans).
- Of course, the most human and emotional moment for President Trump was after he narrowly survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania while on the campaign trail in 2024. He was being shielded by Secret Service agents and ushered away. But he raises his fist in defiance and shouts, “Fight.” That is a human moment if ever there was one. And it is an Earned Human Moment (EHM) that many attribute as a turning point in his winning the election.
One of the biggest stories of Summer 2025 has been the CEO and HR leader of Astronomer (both married to other people) caught canoodling (and trying to cover it up) on a “kiss cam” at a Coldplay concert. That story spread like wildfire online and with AI, but it was a raw, human moment that created the story and came to represent people’s anti-corporate sentiments. It hit a raw nerve for people who have been wronged in a relationship, for people who think the C-Suite isn’t held to the same standards as the average worker and to every person who has a beef with Corporate America. Many people (fairly or not) are saying those two individuals earned the negative spotlight with their all too human moment.
What does going small to go big mean for communications strategy? A few things will be prioritized:
- Interactions between business partners or business leaders “doing deals” or negotiating. What are the negotiations? The handshakes? What did they say to each other, unscripted? What were the uncomfortable interchanges? The fights? The drama?
- Executives addressing employees being shared more widely – people want to see with their own eyes how the C-Suite treats the average worker
- Leaders going about their days, warts and all, and making decisions in the moment
- Customer service, executive or brand ambassadors in recorded and unexpected interactions with their consumers or constituents
- Leaders’ reactions during disasters and mistakes – empathetic and human or reading from a script?
This also means:
- Less “controlled” and scripted messages – more human language
- More vulnerability in the moment, less command and control
- More authenticity in how people interact and treat each other
- Leaders who know how to react to surprises and challenges in the moment
- Leaders who can have conversations versus deliver messages
Power will be in small, human moments to drive the biggest news and, ultimately, reputation. How people act one-on-one versus hiding behind AI content and optimized data targeting will make all the difference in what, ultimately, breaks through. This will make or break brands, companies and trust.
Maybe this is why podcasts are so popular today as other communications vehicles seem tired and old. They are long-form conversations, usually between two or three people. Real stuff often gets said and real personalities and abilities to respond in the moment break through. Listeners (or viewers) feel like they know the hosts and guests.
Maybe this is also why live sports is one of the few forms of entertainment still uniting different factions of people. You never know what is going to happen. Human response and performance in the moment – good and bad – is part of the joy and the storytelling.
People are already flocking to any form of storytelling that feels real between real people. This will become the core of Communications Strategy in the AI era. Real Earned Human Moments.
Go human. Go small. Go for the unpredictable, raw and real moments. Plan for them. Capture them. Share them.
Leave the rest to the machines.
Melissa Kinch is