It’s true. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made a lot of lives easier, especially if you’re a startup, small business or one-person marketing department, but it’s not great for everything.
Where there is a bandwagon, people are going to jump on it, but it doesn't mean they use the latest and greatest well.
We’re continuously warned that AI is not to be fully trusted because it sometimes brings up incorrect information and should be used in conjunction with human involvement.
Why? This ensures that whatever you’re writing, presenting, emailing, etc., is original.
It’s important to remember that AI is simply pulling information that already exists in the ether. This means that you, along with millions of other people, may be pulling and using the exact same information. When it is shared in mass online, it becomes spam.
Just like back in the days when blogs and online outlets started popping up, individuals and professionals would write one article and post it everywhere possible. And this, this, is why search engines started connecting the dots and began blocking or penalizing websites with repetitive (aka Spam) content.
The same is true when it comes to using it to do the heavy lifting in PR.
I see posts and stories about people in the public relations industry, using and relying on AI to automate their work, completely. Full PR agencies use it to write press releases, content, journalist pitches and even to automate the entire outreach and follow up process. While this sounds great, it doesn’t work, for many reasons, including the one above.
And this is the reason journalists and media outlets hate AI.
Think about it this way. If someone is trying to sell you a widget and it is the same generic, impersonal sales pitch you use on everyone, you’re not buying it. Today, and in general, individuals, customers and media want to feel special, seen and most importantly, respected.
Too many think about public relations as a one-way street – media write the story, company generates attention and sales, agency gets paid a lot of money. We’re not thinking about the real needs of media and journalists.
AI Use is Impersonal
In the marketing world we talk about personalization. It’s what consumers want from brands, but media also want it. Personalization, in sales – answering the all important question of “What’s in it for me?” – is what creates interest and desire.
Now, some PR agencies and professionals use AI to write email pitches for specific journalists, letting AI do the homework online to create a small sense of personalization.
I’ve heard stories form journalists who say they received a “personalized” email pitch but the sender didn’t check to see the date or relevancy of the article that AI referenced. It was 10 years prior and a beat the writer didn’t even cover anymore.
AI is not perfect and, more often than not, gets it wrong. Really wrong.
Without human interference, it still comes off as impersonal and journalists are complaining. As they should. This is truly disrespectful. It also further weakens the potential relationship between “them” and “us”, effecting those of us true professionals in the industry, our clients and our ability to be successful for them.
And it’s not just the inauthenticity and lack of personalization. Journalist and media outlets are getting dinged for writing stories that were put together by a PR team using AI that already exists out on the world wide web. They have every right to be annoyed and even angry as it hurts their reputation and that of the publication or outlet in which they produce stories.
In an industry that relies on trust and collaboration – we help journalist discover stories they may not have known about – this breaks that circle of trust.
Journalists are talking very loudly online and on social platforms about these days and feels as if a lot of professionals in this industry are not taking heed. They simply get the client, automate the process and think they can sit back and watch the interest roll in. It’s the exact opposite.
Instead, they risk being blackballed and, today, blocked – even worse. And while there may be some in our field that should probably move onto another career, we certainly don’t want the rest of us to be seen in the same light.
AI can be really helpful
when you’re staring at a blank page trying to think about what to write.
with putting multiple thoughts together.
in conducting discovery or research on clients and industry trends.
building lists of media and their social channels so that you can follow them, engage, and @ them with gratitude when they do run a story on a client.
make running a startup, small business or small marketing department business easier and more efficient by streamlining some tasks, but…
…it shouldn’t, can’t, replace the work of good professionals.
What AI does not have and will never have is novel thinking, because it only pulls the thinking that is already out in the world.
It will never
match the human mind for piecing together words and sentences with finesse.
be creative or write the same way an individual does with their own voice, perspective or ability to simply create something new.
be a true journalist, or PR person with a nose for news.
a human substitute, period.
Therefore, in general, and specifically with PR, AI requires human intervention to ensure the highest quality of work and attention that honors our clients’ stories and respects our industry partners – media and journalists.
It’s easy to abuse, or misuse AI with its allure of convenience and efficiency, however, it has to be used ethically and responsibly.
The reason it is getting abused, especially in PR, is because too many people see it as a shiny new object that will help them get their work done faster and create more free time. However, they haven’t taken the time to read the user’s manual or learned how search grades AI content – press releases, stories, etc.
They don’t understand or care about the impact it may have on their clients.
True journalism is about novel and critical thinking.
PR and story development for clients requires novel and critical thinking based on current data and trends. It’s up to us to take all of the information that AI saved us hours and hours to research and put it together in a compelling, timely and interesting story.
AI can and never will be a replacement for the relational interactions that good PR agencies and professionals have with media on behalf of our clients.
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