How will AI impact the future of public relations?
It’s a fair question, and one I’m being asked more and more frequently. As someone who works in public relations, I will admit that it’s more than a little threatening to hear people ask, “Why should anyone pay a public relations practitioner to write something when AI will do it for free?” Until now, I’ve been responding by telling people about how my personal interactions with AI have left me wanting more quality, more insight and better syntax. In short, I’m safe because AI just isn’t up to par (yet).
It’s the “yet” that needles at me.
Upon further reflection, I think I might start answering these questions a little differently. After all, despite cheap produce being available at the supermarket, people still plant gardens because there will always be those who value the superior taste of fresh-grown produce and the confidence that comes from knowing where and how their food is grown (not to mention the physical and mental benefits of gardening). Despite the ready availability of calculators, humans will always need to understand basic arithmetic because it lays the groundwork for logic. And E-readers cannot replicate the tactile and sensory experience that comes with reading a paperback book (think about how a book smells or how pages feel between your fingers). It’s a universal truth that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Obviously, all the technologies I mentioned have been widely adopted by many, if not most, of us. And there is a time and a place to rely on them for ease of use, convenience and cost effectiveness. I don’t doubt that AI will – and in some cases already does – offer these same advantages over some of the functions public relations professionals have traditionally performed.
However, I have at least three considerations in mind that lead me to believe the human practice of public relations will continue to thrive even as new technologies complement our work.
1. New Things Keep Happening that Cause Complex and Varied Emotions
As I understand it (and I’m no expert), AI learns from the data humans provide to it. If that’s true, then when something new happens, will AI have a framework from which to generate wise and accurate responses? Granted, if the situation is truly new, humans won’t have a framework from which to draw either, but they will have the benefit of their gut emotional reactions. Humans can learn in real time as opposed to only being able to process past-tense, second-hand data. Humans can respond from the depths of multiple emotions at the same time. For instance, when the terrorist attacks of September 11th happened, humans responded to one another out of simultaneously strong feelings of fear, anger, sorrow, heartbreak, patriotism and compassion (among many others). Will AI ever be able to provide a nuanced and emotionally accurate response to the “you-can’t-make-this-stuff-up” situations that actually happen around the world every day?
2. Humans Don’t Even Make Sense to Humans
Remember the Ice Bucket Challenge that benefited ALS research and took social media by storm back in 2014? It was wildly successful by almost any measure. And it made no sense. Can you imagine the pitch for that? “We are going to have people dump buckets of ice water on their own heads. Then, they’re going to tell their friends to do it, too. And if their friends don’t do it, they’re going to tell them they must make a monetary donation to support ALS research.” From a logical standpoint, the whole idea was uncomfortable at best (freezing cold and soaking wet, or being shamed into donating), and coercive at worst (tantamount to being taunted as a “chicken” on the playground if you don’t do it). As nonsensical as it was, humans instinctively knew other humans would happily – gleefully – go for it. And they were right. If we often surprise ourselves by acting out of character or defying logic, will we ever be able to teach AI to generate the kind of wildly successful campaign that depends on abandoning reason?
3. “People Will Always Need Someone Who Can Write”
This is a direct quote from my high school English teacher Patricia Shively, and although she said it nearly 20 years ago, it still rings true. Writing, at its core, is the ability to put thoughts, ideas and sentiments into words. Even if you want AI to write something for you, you need to be able to explain to it what you want it to write. Even if you have AI do your writing for you, you need to be able to read it with a critical eye to know for sure if it’s been done well and if it makes the points you wanted to make. Have you ever stumbled through an explanation of an idea or a thought, only to have the person to whom you are speaking restate your thought for you in a way that more perfectly captured what you meant? THAT is what good writers do. Will AI ever be able to relate to us so well as to be able to state our original and personal sentiments better than we can?
Well. I hope not, anyway.
Mandy Minick is the principal and founder of Minick Public Relations, LLC. She is the immediate past chief communications officer for the Ohio Department of Education and has 20 years of public relations and entrepreneurial experience. Find Minick Public Relations on LinkedIn.