Opt Out of AI and AI Will Opt Out of You Speaker: Pete Pachal
Speaker

Pete Pachal is the founder and CEO of The Media Copilot, a newsletter and podcast about how generative AI is changing the media. He also instructs journalists and communications professionals how to use AI tools through online courses, and he has consulted with publishers such as The Washington Post and the BBC. Pete is a longtime journalist, previously holding senior roles in global newsrooms such as CoinDesk and Mashable. As a thought leader in tech, crypto, and AI, he’s appeared on Fox News, CNN, and The Today Show. He also puts his encyclopedic knowledge of Doctor Who to good use in his side hustle, the popular podcast Pull To Open.
SUMMARY
In this sharp and timely RevvedUP session, Pete Pachal, Founder of The Media Copilot, breaks down one of the biggest strategic shifts facing publishers, media companies, and brands today: Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).
As AI platforms like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity become the new discovery layer, Pete explains why the old debate of “block bots or let them crawl” is outdated. The real challenge is no longer about protecting content alone, it’s about maintaining authority, discoverability, and relevance in an AI-powered ecosystem.
This session reveals why GEO is rapidly becoming the next evolution of SEO and why media companies that fail to adapt risk disappearing from the conversations shaping audience trust, traffic, and future revenue.
