Inside Muck Rack’s first-ever Generative Pulse Summit
Date last updated January 8, 2026
Muck Rack recently hosted the first-ever Generative Pulse Summit in New York City.
More than 100 communicators came together for a day of education designed to give senior leaders the intelligence and frameworks to take control of narratives, command trust and measure influence where it matters most: inside the AI conversation.
“What an incredible speaker lineup representing a wide range of the facets of GEO,” one attendee wrote in a post-event survey response. “The networking was stellar, logistics all smooth. Couldn't have been better.”
What we covered at the first-ever Generative Pulse Summit
Second edition of What is AI Reading? released
To kick off the event, Muck Rack co-founder and CEO Greg Galant and AI & machine learning expert Matt Dzugan unveiled new research and insights in the latest updated iteration of the What Is AI Reading? report.
Here are a few of the key highlights from the report:
- Earned media still drives AI understanding: 94% of all citations come from non-paid sources, and 82% are earned media. Journalism continues to play an outsized role, representing 20–30% of citations.
- PR teams aren’t pitching the right journalists: Across brands analyzed, there is only a 2% overlap between the most-pitched journalists and those most cited by AI.
- Press release citations increased 5× since July: Driven by ChatGPT and Gemini, with more highly structured releases (more stats, bullet points, action verbs and objective sentences) being cited at higher rates.
The report results quickly became the backbone of conversations throughout the day.
Useful and productive conversations
The Summit was filled with insightful conversations between experts, including:
- Jesse Dwyer, Head of Communications, Perplexity
- Eleanor Hawkins, Communications Strategist and Writer, Axios
- Gabrielle Gambrell, Chief Communications Officer, Hachette Book Group
- Erin Hulliberger, Group Director, Walmart U.S. Communications
- Gabriel Sands, Head of News and Lifestyle Partnerships, Reddit
- And so many more…
Stay tuned for individual recaps of each session, which we’ll link below.
Sessions included:
💡 Public Opinion When AI has the Answer: How AI search actually works and explore ways to succeed in a world where accuracy, storytelling, and curiosity (not SEO) win public opinion. View the recap here.
💡 Preparing Your C-Suite and Board for the Answer-Engine Era: Helping executives stay ahead of the most disruptive shift in communications since SEO. View the recap here.
💡 Publishing for Machines: How publishers and communities will fuel the future narratives inside AI-generated responses. View the recap here.
💡 Turn Stories Into Citations: Translating narrative, data and credibility signals into references inside AI-generated answers.
💡 Redefine Measurement: Moving beyond page views and backlinks. How to track brand influence with new metrics like share of voice, visibility scoring and brand sentiment in generative search results.
The big takeaways
Thank you to PR News’ Nicole Schuman for sharing five takeaways from the Summit.
Here are quick summaries of three she shared.
Real-time AI search has officially changed the PR playbook. “AI now actively references earned media as it appears, making those citations even more critical,” Schuman writes.
Citations are a marker of trust. “AI and GEO are having a huge impact on brand credibility, with earning citations in AI search results now established as a mark of importance.”
GEO is forcing PR teams to operate more cross-functionally than ever. "Communications, marketing, SEO and data teams must now collaborate daily—especially during launch campaigns, big news announcements and crises."
Want to stay up-to-date on all things GEO? Be sure to download the latest What Is AI Reading? report.
