How are PR firms using AI these days? How to ethically use AI in public relations? Would AI take over your jobs in PR sector?
Unlike past times, these days AI is part of every sector of our life. So, is in PR. The public relations firms
are increasingly leveraging AI to enhance their processes and strategies.
These days as PR is more digital, the agencies have also destined to keep themselves within the digital
platform using the AI-powered tools. From monitoring vast amounts of news articles, social media
posts, and other online content, these AI tools can identify trends, sentiments, and mentions about a
company or brand, helping us to stay updated and respond swiftly. While in the older days, the public
opinion was to be understood through various questionnaires and opinion seeking, nowadays AI
algorithms can help us to understand the same about a company or brand quite easily, allowing us to
tailor the communication strategies accordingly.
As the term PR has extended itself to include influencer marketing, blogging, etc; identifying these
community became a big challenge to leverage upon. However, AI-powered platforms can catalogue
and manage extensive media databases more efficiently, aiding us to identify relevant journalists,
bloggers, and influencers based on their beats, preferences, and past interactions. And we can also
employ AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants which can improve customer service and
streamline communications, so as to free up us for other complex tasks.
The two biggest concerns of any PR professional are drafting content, specifically press releases, and
the crisis management. These days both of them has become an AI affair. By using AI algorithms, we
could design effective PR campaigns, identify potential crises, and make data-driven decisions. These
algorithms can monitor social media and news platforms to detect potential crises or negative PR
situations in real-time. Early detection allows PR firms to respond promptly, address concerns, and
mitigate brand damage. Moreover, AI tools like Chat GPT can generate content like press releases,
articles, and blog posts by analyzing vast amounts of data and emulating human writing styles.
Ethically using AI in public relations requires careful consideration and adherence to principles that
prioritize transparency, fairness, accountability, and respect for privacy. AI should be used transparent
in public relations activities, and not to manipulate or deceive the public. Being a public relations
professional, public should be our first concern always. Cheating them or hiding aspects like these from
them would lead to misunderstandings. So always it’s better to disclose to the people that AI is being
employed.
All of us, including me, we are concerned about attrition rate that would increase due to the advent of
AI in our industry. However, AI being a technical aspect would never have the responsibility element
attached to it. So, it is very significant to make sure that human oversight should be employed. It could
help us to prevent potential biases, errors, or harmful consequences resulting from AI decision-making.
Human professionals should verify and approve any significant decisions made by AI.
AI is rapidly evolving, and its implementation in PR will continue to expand. However, human expertise,
creativity, and critical thinking remain crucial for successful PR strategies.