Can AI Replace my PR Job?
Whether you like it or not, we live in a world where AI has officially become inescapable. From infiltrating our Google search optimization, to AI videos going viral on social media, it has slowly crept into every crevice of our media lives, including the PR industry. Opinions on AI aside, it is important for us as PR professionals to know the impact it is having on our field and what steps we can take next to adjust.
Forbes shared a list they accumulated from their corporation partners of the changes they have seen, both good and bad, due to AI in their PR departments. The list shared that in a positive light, AI has been a great aid to the brainstorming and data refining process of PR work. It has helped by cleaning and speeding up processes such as media monitoring, saving time and effort from filtering through databases, been a great tool to bounce ideas off of for brainstorming and kickstarting work by helping create basic drafts.
While these processes seem helpful, AI still remains a double-edged sword. Since AI is still developing everyday, some kinks in the system haven’t been fully worked out which leads to huge faults when using it as a personal tool or your audience using it for their own purposes. In a field that is weighed entirely on public opinion, mistakes like misinformation reaching your audience can drastically change your outcome. Unfortunately, this playing out is highly likely due to the fact that information coming out of AI isn’t always filtered thoroughly. Alongside this, AI tends to generalize what it spews out: stripping all the content it produces of any authenticity or originality. When relying on it entirely to create something for you, the outcome will absolutely lose the narrative you intended for it to have.
Understanding this impact on our field now, we are not at a total defeat against AI. At the end of the day, human authenticity drives our work. AI is a tool that can sharpen all the data and strategy in PR to make a perfect plan, but that means nothing without the intent of human creativity behind it all. It’s our nature to gravitate towards connecting with one another on a human level, something that can’t be achieved with any technology (so far at least). This sentiment translates to our field and therefore the most important thing we can do is recognize that AI can be used as a helpful tool to assist us, not a full replacement. It’s our job to educate ourselves on the technology, when used make sure it’s done responsibly and transparently, and remember we are in control of what we create and put out into the industry, always.
Bio: Alexa Tovar is a senior student at California State University, Northridge majoring in Journalism with a focus in Public Relations and minoring in Apparel Design and Merchandising. She is a pop culture enthusiast and a dedicated student, always ready to learn and committed to putting her best foot forward. Alexa hopes to bring her creativity and passion for storytelling to the world of entertainment PR, to pay homage to the industry that turned her life technicolor.