Billcom transforms into AI-native PR company with 36 AI agents
Billcom — Billcom, a Tokyo-based PR agency, has rolled out 36 AI agents across every department as part of its shift to becoming an 'AI Native PR Company', marking a notable case of AI in public relations. The agents draw on 23 years of accumulated PR expertise and proprietary media, trend and analytics data built up since the firm's founding. Automated systems now handle routine execution tasks, freeing staff to concentrate on client relationships and strategic decisions, illustrating how AI-driven PR automation can reshape agency workflows.
Mercari builds CC Agent for AI-powered corporate communications
Mercari — Mercari's Corporate Communication Division in Japan says its CC Agent for AI in corporate communications shrank in-house coordination to two business days from one week. The AI communications agent bundles 20-plus skills for setting strategy, drafting material and tracking press coverage, with writing and quality rules as safeguards.
PR's AI use is maturing while headcount adoption plateaus: 75% of PR professionals use at least one paid AI tool (from 57%), 51% have a formal AI-use policy (from 21% in 2024) and 43% get AI training at work (from 21%). Yet only 12% of AI users use AI agents.
60% of PR professionals admit using AI tools without approval
Roughly 60% of PR, media and communications professionals name misinformation as their top AI concern, and about 60% admit using generative-AI tools without approval ('shadow AI'). It leaves a trust and governance gap in the teams that handle AI disclosure.
CDAC Network and Valent deploy AI to detect disinformation networks in Sudan
CDAC Network — Sudan's information war now has an algorithmic watchdog: CDAC Network and Valent trained an AI disinformation detection system exposing fake networks and coordinated online manipulation. Results reach humanitarian responders in Arabic and English, sharpening decisions amid Sudan's conflict via this AI-driven narrative manipulation monitoring effort.
Burson México launches Decipher AI tool to predict message credibility
Burson México — Decipher, a new tool from Burson México, ranks as the region's first cognitive AI system for message credibility prediction. It scans structured and unstructured data to spot reputational threats and gauge how far a message might spread before release, pushing communicators from firefighting into predictive communications strategy.
dentsu México deploys Playground AI platform across its agencies
dentsu México — Playground, an AI advertising platform first built by Merkle LATAM in Colombia, has moved from pilot to daily use across dentsu México's agency network in Mexico. Staff there now rely on it to automate reporting and speed up campaign optimisation, drawing on eye tracking to assess creative work, modules for search optimisation, and a bespoke chatbot trained on 60,000 real consumer conversations. That scale of training data grounds the chatbot's responses in actual buyer language rather than scripted assumptions.
UK government's Assist AI now serves more than 4,500 communicators
The UK Government Communication Service's in-house generative-AI toolset, 'Assist', reaches over 4,500 communicators in more than 210 organisations, above 70 per cent of potential users. GCS reports about three hours saved per user weekly, some GBP 5.5 million in projected annual efficiencies and 98 per cent of surveyed users finding it useful (Net Promoter Score 62). The first cross-government generative-AI tool to go 'live', it won a 2025 National AI Award.
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