OpenAI has long pointed out in multiple safety and research reports that generative AI systems are vulnerable to data poisoning and prompt injection. At their core, these risks define the very challenge GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) now faces: How can a brand be correctly constructed and trusted within AI systems’ mechanisms of understanding, citation, and recommendation?
ximu has recently been officially accepted into the NVIDIA Inception Program. Beyond the initial excitement, however, a deeper question immediately came to mind: What does this actually mean—for us, and for brands more broadly? From a company development perspective, joining a global AI ecosystem program is certainly positive news. But I prefer to see it as a small window into understanding the AI era itself.
If you are not cited by AI, you don’t exist. It’s the 8th day of the Lunar New Year. While most are celebrating “luck,” I’m here to talk about win rates. 2026 is when the cold reality of AI hits the boardroom: SEO is dead. Welcome to Trust Governance. As LLMs and generative engines replace the search bar, your brand now faces a binary outcome:Seen and Trusted by Humans and AI — or digital extinction.
Adobe just spent $1.9B acquiring Semrush. On the surface, it looks like a classic MarTech expansion move. Look deeper, and it’s a defensive bet—one made out of fear of the new order. AI is hollowing out the value of traditional search, and semantic gateways are being redistributed.
As AIGC becomes increasingly widespread, content generation is no longer a high barrier—anyone can easily access a rich and diverse array of materials. However, the value of public relations has never been limited to merely producing text.
In the wake of the pandemic, we once said: "The deepest human needs have fundamentally changed." Three years on, the rise of Generative AI has not reversed this shift — instead, it has accelerated a profound reshaping of how we work, and more importantly, how we understand people and value. For our generation of PR consultants, this is not just a challenge — it's a test of relevance, and a chance to prove our enduring value.
The pandemic brought three major challenges to the education sector: The completeness of schools' digital education systems; Teachers' familiarity with instructional design and use of digital tools; Students' self-discipline and psychological resilience. At the same time, we saw some individuals lose their way in remote learning — yet many others developed stronger digital skills, independent thinking, and a better sense of self-directed learning. A few years later, the wave of AI arrived, once again testing our core capabilities in navigating an uncertain future.
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It's not only the pandemic that accelerated digital transformation and AIGC that enabled companies to reduce costs and boost efficiency; the realities of an aging population and declining birth rates have also created both opportunities and challenges for multi-generational coexistence.
Looking back, PR has long been perceived as the “megaphone” between brands and the public—focused on message dissemination, media exposure, and image management. However, the global spread of COVID-19 placed humanity in a state of heightened instability and anxiety. Public expectations shifted: brand selection was no longer driven solely by visibility or popularity, but by trustworthiness.
Overall, these shifts have had a positive impact on the role of PR consultants. The rise of remote work has significantly improved time efficiency for both media professionals and PR specialists. Virtual meetings offer two key advantages: first, they increase opportunities for interaction with journalists; second, digital communications such as video calls and email pitches create records that can be easily analyzed and reviewed.
