Since its relaunch in April 2025, HARO (Help a Reporter Out) has sent over 100 million emails connecting journalists with sources, according to data released by Featured, the company that owns the service. The statistics offer a revealing look at how artificial intelligence, spam, and crowded inboxes are reshaping the relationship between journalists and PR professionals.
The data, published in HARO's 2026 report, indicates that 21% of pitches submitted through HARO are entirely AI-generated. This trend has led 35% of journalists to block AI-generated pitches when making requests. The prevalence of AI content has also prompted HARO to implement AI detection technology from Pangram to analyze every submission.
HARO's enforcement measures are strict: a user is banned every 23 minutes for spam or terms of service violations. Additionally, 32% of journalist requests are rejected during the approval process due to concerns about the journalist, publication, or request quality. These measures aim to maintain the integrity of the platform.
The most striking finding is that human-written pitches are approximately three times more likely to be used by journalists than AI-generated ones. Brett Farmiloe, CEO of HARO, commented, "Human-written pitches are about 3x more likely to get featured than AI-written ones. The sources who stand out typically come from fully human teams who can provide credible information, respond to what the journalist actually asked for, and make the journalist’s job easier. As inboxes get more crowded, being helpful becomes the differentiator."
This data underscores a growing challenge for PR professionals: even as access to journalists expands through platforms like HARO, earning their attention becomes harder. With more pitches flooding inboxes, relevance, credibility, and expertise are critical for sources to stand out. The findings suggest that while AI can streamline content creation, it cannot replace the authenticity and insight that journalists value.
For more details, journalists and sources can visit HARO's website to see the full statistics and explore how the service is adapting to the evolving media landscape.
