Industry experts warn of “AI pitch fatigue” as publications struggle to find fresh angles amid unprecedented story volume
NEW YORK — Journalists across major media outlets are drowning in artificial intelligence-related story pitches, with some reporters receiving up to 50 AI-focused communications daily from public relations agencies desperately trying to position their clients at the forefront of the technology revolution.
The deluge has reached such proportions that industry professionals are now warning of widespread “AI pitch fatigue” among editors and journalists, threatening to undermine legitimate coverage of meaningful developments in artificial intelligence.
American reporters collectively published 7.1 million stories on AI from March 2023 to March 2024. Compare that to 800,000 stories on the metaverse.
The Wall Street Journal alone published 3,707 AI-related stories in 2022, jumping to more than 6,000 in 2023 as ChatGPT’s November launch triggered an industry-wide scramble for coverage.
The Numbers Behind the Noise
The scale of AI-related PR outreach has become staggering. About half (49%) of reporters surveyed said they receive 50 or more pitches a week; 10% received between 100 and 150 pitches weekly, with AI topics representing a significant portion of these communications.
Recent surveys reveal the extent of pitch volume across journalism: 46% of journalists receiving six or more pitches daily, 49% seldom or never respond, mainly due to relevance issues.
Gaming journalists, who face similar saturation in their niche, report that nearly two-thirds (62%) of respondents receive 11 to 50 pitches daily. 12% of respondents get over 50 pitches daily!
The AI adoption rate among organizations has only intensified this trend. According to McKinsey in a survey in 2024, an unprecedented 72% of organizations have adopted AI compared to earlier years, creating an exponential increase in companies seeking media coverage for their AI initiatives.
Beyond Generic AI: The Struggle for Differentiation
The saturation extends beyond general technology coverage into specialized sectors.
Cybersecurity and antivirus companies have been particularly aggressive in their AI-related outreach, with major players like Check Point, Trend Micro, and traditional antivirus vendors pivoting their messaging to emphasize AI-powered threat detection and response capabilities.
121M Americans use third-party antivirus; Norton leads paid, McAfee tops free. 17M plan adoption soon, despite built-in OS protections like Microsoft Defender.
This massive user base has made antivirus companies particularly eager to distinguish themselves through AI integration stories, flooding cybersecurity journalists with pitches about AI-enhanced malware detection, behavioral analysis, and predictive threat intelligence.
Security companies are racing to position themselves as AI leaders, with “AI-driven SOC co-pilots will make a significant impact in 2025, helping security teams prioritize threats and turn overwhelming amounts of data into actionable intelligence. It’s a game-changer for SOC efficiency,” becoming typical messaging from firms like Check Point.
Editorial Fatigue Sets In
The overwhelming volume has created a paradox: while AI remains a legitimate and important story category, editors are increasingly skeptical of AI-related pitches due to their ubiquity and often superficial nature.
According to the 2024 State of the Media Report, 26% of journalists named the emergence of AI one of the biggest challenges the industry has faced in the last year.
However, nearly half revealed they are leveraging generative AI in various ways for their work – 23% are using it for research, creating a complex relationship where journalists are simultaneously fatigued by AI coverage and dependent on AI tools.
Industry sources report that reporters are becoming increasingly dismissive of generic AI announcements, integration stories, and survey-based thought leadership pieces that fail to offer genuinely newsworthy insights.
“Reporters want what they can’t access – internal AI strategies, challenges, successes and solutions,” noted one PR professional familiar with the landscape. The demand has shifted from basic AI implementation stories to more sophisticated coverage of actual business impact, regulatory challenges, and competitive differentiation.
The Trust Factor Emerges
Public skepticism about AI’s role in journalism is adding another layer of complexity. About six-in-ten Americans (59%) say AI will lead to fewer jobs for journalists in the next two decades, creating an environment where media professionals must balance coverage of AI advancements with public concerns about the technology’s impact on their industry.
Lack of funding (35%) topped the list of journalists’ concerns in 2024, with trust in journalism and media (31%) and disinformation (28%) following closely behind, making editors more selective about which AI stories merit coverage in an already constrained media landscape.
Industry Response and Adaptation
PR agencies are beginning to adapt their strategies in response to the saturation problem. 2024 has been a year of experimentation with AI tools. In 2025, agencies and PR teams will be held accountable to measure the impact on workflows, processes and outputs, suggesting a shift from quantity-based to quality-focused approaches.
The number one media relations trend for 2025, according to the PR pros who answered our LinkedIn post? The rise of independent journalism.
Dozens of responses pointed to the 2024 presidential election as marking the moment that podcasts, Substacks and other forms of journalism outside the standard media gained prominence, offering new avenues for AI-related content.
Some agencies are pivoting to more targeted, relationship-based approaches rather than mass email campaigns. A well-crafted personalized media pitch engages people and has a higher chance of being selected by journalists and other media outlets and platforms, though this requires significantly more resources than automated outreach.
What Media Professionals Want
Despite the fatigue, 70% believe that PR professionals are at least somewhat important to their work, indicating that the issue lies not with PR outreach itself but with the quality and relevance of AI-related pitches.
Journalists increasingly seek:
- Original research and proprietary data about AI implementation
- Contrarian perspectives on AI trends and capabilities
- Sector-specific AI applications with measurable business impact
- Regulatory and policy implications of AI adoption
- Real-world failure cases and lessons learned
Looking Forward: Quality Over Quantity
The AI pitch saturation crisis represents a broader challenge in modern media relations, where technological disruption creates temporary gold rush mentalities among PR agencies and their clients.
The antivirus industry’s pivot to AI messaging exemplifies how established sectors attempt to remain relevant by associating themselves with emerging trends, often without substantial differentiation.
As the AI story continues to evolve, successful media relations will likely depend on moving beyond generic integration announcements toward more sophisticated, data-driven narratives that offer genuine insight into technology’s impact on business and society.
The companies that succeed in cutting through the noise will be those that offer journalists unique access to information, contrarian viewpoints, or compelling human stories about AI’s real-world applications and limitations.
For now, journalists continue to wade through dozens of daily AI pitches, searching for the rare story that offers something genuinely new to say about a technology that has already generated millions of articles and shows no signs of slowing down.
