The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) as ‘business-as-usual’ has had many professionals pondering the existential question of whether their role will ultimately be done cheaper, faster and better by AI.
It’s a tough question, and one that PR professionals everywhere are asking themselves too. So where do you even start if you want to answer this question?
We realise the irony, but we thought we’d ask ChatGPT if AI would replace PR agencies. Guess what? The answer is no, but PR professionals who use AI will replace those who don’t.
To elaborate further, ChatGPT explained the top three reasons this was the case.
- PR runs on relationships, not just information. AI cannot build genuine and trusted relationships with your key stakeholders, customers and media. Only humans can build relationships with other humans and this is the essence of PR.
- PR requires human judgement, not just data-driven decision making. In a PR crisis, having access to the right data and information is essential, but your key message isn’t always “data driven”. It needs to be a human message that shows authenticity and accountability.
- Creativity and storytelling are human arts. Even the best wordsmith has to acknowledge that ChatGPT is a pretty good copywriter. But PR is not just words, it’s about campaigns and strategies that surprise and delight and compel. This requires a human touch.
Still not convinced? Well, we asked some more pointed questions of ChatGPT, the kinds of questions we’d aim to explore in a job interview for a PR pro. Our first question focused on emotional intelligence. We simply asked Chat GPT if it had feelings.
“Nope — I don’t have feelings, emotions, or consciousness. When I sound empathetic or enthusiastic, that’s just language patterning.”
Good to know. Next, we asked if it is a good judge of character.
“Good question — and the short answer is: no, I can’t truly judge a person’s character.”
Hmm, could be a problem. Last of all, we asked if it was good in a crisis.
“ChatGPT can be very helpful – but not a decision-maker. It’s great for drafting holding statements or media responses quickly… However, ChatGPT shouldn’t decide what to say in a crisis because I don’t know the full context, internal facts, or legal risks; understand real-time nuance or the emotional state of your audiences (or) take accountability for the outcomes.”
Ok. So, not a fan of accountability.
Right, so all that considered, would we employ ChatGPT as a PR account manager, or even a junior consultant? Absolutely not. It has no real ability to create human connections, empathise or craft authentic messages and it has no skin in the game when it comes to driving outcomes.
But would we use AI to enhance our PR strategies and tactics? Absolutely.
AI offers PR practitioners multiple advantages with its ability to quickly gather and synthesise large amounts of data to inform evidence-based strategies and thoroughly researched campaigns.
It’s a dab hand at content creation when used in the right context.
And plugged into the right platforms, it can provide realms of business intelligence that can automate and improve all sorts of core PR functions from media monitoring to campaign management.
So, in short, AI won’t replace PR, but is something your PR professional should be all over and using to support your business goals.
You heard it from ChatGPT itself… and this human blog writer.
Think you could be leveraging AI for better PR results? Contract us today for a human chat about how we can help you.
