Tech giants are shelling out up to $400K for AI evangelists to defend against surging American skepticism

AI has a PR problem. 

As companies bet big on AI’s development—from Google saying it will double its capital expenditure to Meta’s bet on AI acceleration in 2026—Americans have soured on the technology. While most say they’ve used AI, more have grown wary: 50% say they’re more concerned than excited about the technology, according to recent Pew research. That’s up from 37% in 2021. And just 10% say they are more excited than wary about the technology. Now, some tech companies are leveraging the art of storytelling to turn the tide on public opinion. 

Silicon Valley is seeking top comms experts and is willing to pay big money for them, as originally reported by Business Insider. Anthropic has tripled the size of its communications team over the past several years, bringing the total to about 80 people. The company is still hiring, paying as much as $400,000 a year for a head of product communications. Adobe is hiring an A...