Why AI won’t be replacing PR specialists anytime soon

Featured on CEO Middle East

 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere in our everyday lives. It helps drive your car, unlock your phone with face ID, predict the stock market, recommend what to watch on Netflix, read your resume, and even vacuum your floors. It is meant to make our lives easier both on an individual level as well as in the business world.

Businesses are expected to undergo large-scale changes in order to survive and remain competitive in today’s ever-changing political, social, and economic climate. Artificial intelligence has enormous potential to help businesses adapt to new dynamics.

As much as automation and the use of algorithms can help reduce the complexity of the workplace, they cannot fully replace what makes humans unique: our ability to understand the context and fit multiple strands of information into a bigger picture that helps solve problems. Here are some things to keep in mind when thinking about artificial intelligence in PR. 

  1. Understanding humans

First, let’s look at the research. A recent study looked at how likely it is that certain jobs would be replaced by AI within the next 20 years. They found an 18% probability that PR specialists will eventually suffer this fate. 

AI will face limitations when it comes to understanding people. This is because humans are complex creatures with a wide range of needs and desires that often defy calculation or prediction.

Despite the notion that our careers are being usurped by artificial intelligence, we’re still able to do things that computers cannot. While it might seem like our jobs are increasingly devoted to answering customer questions and searching influencer engagement rates, it pays to remember that PR professionals actually have a much wider range of skills than that. At its heart, PR is about understanding people—something even the most advanced AI systems cannot do.

The value that public relations professionals bring to the organizations they work for is not a technical understanding of how to write a byline article or press release, but an ability to understand the needs of the businesses and clients they work with, and engage with them on a personal and emotional level.

  1. It’s new but not perfect

The best PR professionals are not those with the largest quantities of data at their disposal but rather those who use their creativity most effectively with the resources available to them.

Every once in a while, you might read about an instance in which artificial intelligence has produced creative work of note. But then you ask Siri to search to provide a list of restaurants that are not McDonald’s, Siri still spits out a list of local McDonald’s restaurants; she just doesn’t get the “no” part of “no.” The fact that the media highlights these rare feats tells us that AI performing at this level is still a long way down the road.

It remains unclear whether artificial intelligence will ever be able to think creatively. For this reason alone, AI may never be better than humans at designing truly original campaigns or writing thoughtful press releases. Both require creativity to find a new angle on an existing product or to understand what parts of a story will resonate with humans.

We’ve heard a lot of hype about the impact of artificial intelligence, but we haven’t seen significant changes to our work lives.

  1. Stop competing and start collaborating

While it’s easy to think of artificial intelligence as something that will replace us in the future, we’re already working with it today and it is making our lives more efficient. AI and machine learning (ML) systems are, in fact, already well integrated into the PR landscape, whether in streamlining email send-outs or checking our press releases for mistakes.

Instead of replacing human PR professionals, AI tools will be used more and more to help them do their jobs. An example is Automizy, an AI-based email marketing service that helps companies create, send, and track their email campaigns. Even though Automizy creates the content of these emails, a human professional writes the actual text. The tool helps the PR professional save time, become more efficient, and focus on tasks that require more creativity. 

  1. At the end of the day

Ultimately, the degree to which artificial intelligence supplants public relations professionals will depend on how accurate and cost-effective the technology becomes. Once artificial intelligence can replace the tasks currently undertaken by PR professionals, we can reevaluate the day-to-day role of a PR professional.

But while we won’t see computers taking over anytime soon, artificial intelligence will continue to be used to make the mundane parts of our lives less so. PR is about client communications, loyalty, and building long-term trust and partnerships, something that AI or any new innovative technology can never provide. Instead of replacing us, AI will assist us in doing what we do best: connecting with other humans and using our creativity.

 

 

Words By: Aaron Illathu, Junior Account Manager at Atteline