Human Pitches Still Beat AI Pitches, HARO Data Shows
A new HARO report put real numbers behind what many PR pros already suspected: human-written pitches land far more often than AI-generated ones.
Online, October 15, 2026 · 6 min read · EIN Presswire
Artificial intelligence has made its way into media pitching, but a new report from Help a Reporter Out (HARO) suggests the human touch still matters most. Of the more than 2 million pitches HARO analyzed, 79 percent had some human involvement, HARO CEO Brett Farmiloe told EIN Presswire. The remaining 21 percent were entirely AI-generated.
Most journalists I speak with say that they can tell when a pitch is AI generated or not, just from a blink test.
Farmiloe's advice to publicists follows the HARO acronym itself: be Helpful, be Authentic, be Relevant, be On time. Authentic doesn't mean avoiding AI entirely. It means the pitch that goes out has to clear a bar higher than what a generic AI draft would produce on its own.
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Audits run | 405 |
| Brands covered | 378 |
| Buying questions asked | 1,983 |
| Citations traced | 22,881 |
| Domains identified | 11,499 |
| Median domain authority | 37 |
| Citations to DA 80+ sites | 31.2% |
| Citations to DA under 40 sites | 34.5% |
The pattern matters for communicators, Farmiloe said: media mentions help with model mentions. Earned coverage from independent editorial outlets showed up far more often in AI answers than content brands publish on their own sites.
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