Everyone is talking about it, everyone wants to implement it, no one wants to be left behind, and no one wants to be "replaced" by it.

Newspapers, media, companies, creators, professionals in every field, and even those who don't actually master the subject are talking about it. 

At every event in every industry there is always a talk devoted to the hottest topic of the moment: artificial intelligence.

Like any technology that seems too far away from us and therefore scares us, AI brings with it many doubts, which to be resolved must first be understood and transformed accordingly into a strength and an ally.

As it is often said lately, "It won't be AI that replaces you, but someone who has learned how to use it".

So how can a PR person or PR firm become familiar with artificial intelligence, and more importantly, in what cases and how can he or she use it ethically and within the bounds of common sense? Can it be a tool that facilitates or replaces the work of a or a PR?

Let's see it together.

First, it is important to understand what opportunities are generated by artificial intelligence, to anticipate its difficulties and challenges, and then to understand how to make it a ethical use, always investing in the creativity that characterizes human beings.

When people talk about PR, they may think it is a job easily replaced by AI. Can a press release and media pitch be written on Chat Gpt giving a few pointers here and there? Theoretically, yes, but the correct question to ask is not what AI can do, but how can he do it.

Dealing with public relations, as the words themselves say, brings to the table not only hard skills such as those of writing press releases and media alerts, analytical and strategic skills, and the intuition to understand the most newsworthy corners of an organization or project, but the qualities "human" that to date no technology is yet able to replace: empathy, the ability to read between the lines and interpret according to circumstances, build lasting relationships that create real impact, manage critical moments and understand the nuances that AI is not yet able to do.

4 ways AI can support PR.

PR work requires many soft skills, but to deepen and optimize them by giving them more space and time, artificial intelligence can become a great ally.

How, that's what AI can help us with.

  1. Understanding audience sentiment. Sentiment analysis is an activity focused on analyzing and listening to the web, with the goal of understanding what users are saying and thinking about your brand. It is based on the major methods of computational linguistics and text analytics and can be critical to building targeted and effective strategies.
  1. Some AI tools help collect and summarize important data and information by sifting through news sources to create condensed versions of multiple articles, generate summaries of social media conversations, and identify emerging trends, thus saving valuable time that can be devoted to more strategic activities. 
  1. It is possible to identify new trends quickly analyzing a large amount of data. This makes it easier for PRs and PRs to make strategically better decisions for their campaigns and unearth new opportunities.
  1. Generative artificial intelligence can also be used to monitor a brand's reputation interpreting social media conversations, news stories, and other online mentions. This information can be used by and PRs to identify potential crises early and take the right steps to mitigate damage.

Now that we have defined what the aspects in which AI can become an ally for PR practitioners and professionals can be, it is necessary to keep in mind some characteristics of artificial intelligence before we start making constant use of it.

The creative power of human beings is not replaceable by AI

First of all, it should be pointed out that in AI tools there is a possibility of "fishing" for content (such as reports, infographics, statistics, and market analysis) that is incomplete, stereotypical, or completely false (because to date AI is also used unethically to spread fake news). Therefore, AI content cannot be used blindly, but must always be accompanied by thorough analysis and fact-checking, comparing it with multiple sources. This means that the process of research and information gathering can be optimized, providing more time for the or PR to focus on creative processes, but there must always be a careful and critical eye in the use of such content.

That said, by speeding up work in activities that are often repetitive and time-consuming, AI allows PR professionals and practitioners to do what they do best: build relationships, understand their nuances, capture the most newsworthy angles of a story, develop and execute creative and strategic actions, and manage crises with empathy and humanity.

Empathy and humanity, qualities that no technology can ever have.

Article by Paolina Consiglieri

Image by Cristiano De Nobili