What “expert” means to journalists in a world of fake AI voices

Remember when the word “expert” used to actually mean something?

It lived in polished bios, keynote speeches, LinkedIn headlines and panel appearances; less about depth and more about visibility. If you sounded fluent enough, looked credible enough and said things with enough certainty, people were willing to believe you knew what you were doing.

But in a post-AI world, the term “expert” has started to lose all of its pull. Journalists are now battling against inboxes packed to the brim with “AI experts” who simply don’t exist. They have no credentials – or false ones – AI-generated headshots, and generic quotes from ChatGPT. And because it’s made journalist’s jobs harder, it’s made them more suspicious, and made it harder for PRs with real clients and experts to gain results.

If you’ve not already read the Press Gazette’s ‘Faces of Fakery’, then I really think you should do so now. Go ahead, I’ll wait. 

So, after reading that piece, can you really blame journalists for being sceptical? It may have become a little harder for genuine PRs to gain expert-led coverage for their clients, but it’s not impossible. Below is what journalists really want to identify the real pros from the fakes.

1. A traceable human footprint

A quickly slapped together ‘bio’ page on an ‘about us’ section of a website just isn’t cutting it anymore. Journalists want to see a LinkedIn profile (hot tip: I ALWAYS include a link to this when offering myself for quotes), past publication mentions and quotes, a page on the company website with real information on it, and even a short video. All of this adds up to creating a digital footprint of a real person, one that can be traced. Journalists nowadays need to know that they’re talking to a real person whose words have weight.

2. Credentials

For some industries, this may require degrees and formal qualifications – such as a dermatologist speaking about skincare conditions or a pharmacist talking about medications. For other areas, this may mean verifiable and traceable experience; in other words, can you see they have experience in their field? For me, for example, when I’m quoted as a PR expert, a journalist can see from my LinkedIn profile that I have over 6 years of working in the industry. 

3. Speaking face-to-face

Or at least in some capacity. In recent weeks I’ve counted 5 PR opportunities where – after responding to the initial request – the journalist has asked to hop on a video call with me. And at the end of the first, I asked the journalist outright what had prompted it. As I suspected, she needed to see she was speaking to a genuine person, which I understood and respected. 

AI can generate text in an instant, but it can’t yet hold a flowing, human conversation with all of its nuances and tangents. Journalists want an expert who is able to take a quick call, go on the record, and put their face to their insight. And let’s face it, hopping on a Teams meeting is one of the quickest ways to prove authenticity.

4. Real expertise

Let’s face it, anyone can Google any topic and recycle what’s already out there into a reasonable quotable paragraph – but it’s nothing groundbreaking. What else do you have to offer beyond common knowledge? The jack of all trades is being left behind, and there’s no room in post-AI journalism for general experts. You’re far better off knowing one thing, and knowing it inside and out. Quotes that are generic or shallow are guaranteed to be binned.

5. Transparency

Where did your quotes come from? Where did your research or data come from? Let the journalist know. Honesty and transparency is the best way to build those real relationships. 

Why does this all matter?

Some people may be asking why does it matter if an expert is real or fake? Isn’t the journalist getting the information they need for the article anyway?

First of all, not the point. And second of all, if everyone is an expert at everything, then surely everyone is an expert in nothing.

For the majority working in the journalism industry, integrity is everything. When they’re already fighting against hundreds of AI-produced stories with clickbait headlines, being trustworthy is a badge of honour. The ease and accessibility of AI has made it incredibly easy to fake expertise and it’s causing collateral damage across the industry. 

BUT, let’s flip this round and look at the positives: the divide between the fakes and those who really know their stuff is becoming better than ever. All you have to do, as a PR, is make it impossible for the journalist to doubt that the information is coming from a knowledgeable and reliable source. 

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