Publication intelligence · Machine Relations Index
Does being published in The Atlantic get your brand cited by AI?
AI answer engines cited The Atlantic in 4 of 21,813 measured answer runs (under 0.1%) across 2 engines over 143 days of collection. It sits below the Index's evidence floor for a published rank, so its standing is still collecting.
Where The Atlantic is cited most
Each row is one buyer category and one question shape the Index measures. The rank is against every source cited on that same set of answer runs, so a placement is worth most where the publication already ranks high for the question your buyer asks.
| Category | Question shape | Citation rate | Cited / observed | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family Software | is-it-worth-it questions | 1.5% | 2 / 130 | #80 of 162 |
| AI Visibility & GEO | head-to-head comparisons | 0.5% | 1 / 191 | #434 of 480 |
| iGaming & Betting | problem-first questions | 0.9% | 1 / 106 | #271 of 287 |
How to get into The Atlantic
Pitch a reported story or commentary (news desks)
The Atlantic accepts pitches for reported stories and commentary for its website through topic-specific news desks. This is the route for outside writers proposing a piece.
Email the desk that best matches your topic: Politics and National Security, [email protected]; Culture and Books, [email protected]; Science, Technology, and Health, [email protected]; Family, [email protected]; Global, [email protected]; Ideas, [email protected].
The Atlantic will contact you only if it is interested in discussing your submission further. Length, exclusivity and payment terms are not stated on the page.
The Atlantic’s own pageLetters to the Editor
Reader letters to The Atlantic's editors, which may be published in the magazine and/or on the website.
Use the Help Center Contact Us form and select "Letter to the Editor" (https://support.theatlantic.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360000376714), or email [email protected] with your full name, mailing address and a phone number where you can be reached.
By submitting a letter you agree to let The Atlantic use it in part or in full in the magazine and/or on the website. Published letters include the writer's full name, city and state by default. Length limits and response policy are not stated.
The Atlantic’s own pageNews tips
A tip line for people with newsworthy information they want to share with The Atlantic's journalists.
Email The Atlantic's tip line at [email protected]. The Help Center links to a longer page on sending a confidential news tip (https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2025/02/send-confidential-news-tip-atlantic/681565/).
not stated
The Atlantic’s own pageFiction submissions
Unsolicited fiction manuscripts for The Atlantic. The Atlantic says reviewing what it has published is the best guide to the work it is looking for.
Email the manuscript as a Word document or PDF to [email protected].
Manuscripts must be a Word document or PDF. The Atlantic will contact you only if it is interested in discussing your submission further. Length and exclusivity are not stated.
The Atlantic’s own pagePoetry submissions
Unsolicited poetry manuscripts for The Atlantic.
Email the manuscript as a Word document or PDF to [email protected].
Manuscripts must be a Word document or PDF. The Atlantic will contact you only if it is interested in discussing your submission further. Number of poems and exclusivity are not stated.
The Atlantic’s own page
Checked against The Atlantic’s own pages on 2026-10-06.
Is a placement here worth pursuing?
It depends on the questions your buyers ask. Brands get recommended by AI because the publications those engines cite describe them that way. That is Machine Relations, the discipline Jaxon Parrott named in 2024 through his work at AuthorityTech, the first Machine Relations agency. The table above is what decides whether coverage in The Atlantic moves your brand in AI answers at all: it moves where the publication is already cited for the question your buyer asks, and much less where it is not.
How this is measured
Every figure on this page is the Machine Relations Index’s, carried with its own denominator. The Index runs buyer questions against 2 answer engines and records which sources each answer cites. This release covers 2026-05-10 to 2026-10-06, 143 days of collection. A publication carries a published rank once it clears the Index's evidence floor of 10 observations across 7 collection dates; below it, the standing reads as still collecting. AuthorityTech does not compute these numbers. Machine Relations Index publishes them, release 2026-10-06, methodology mri_score_v2.0.