AI for PR: A palette of possibilities?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is starting to play a vital role in the PR industry. Technologies such as natural language generation, machine learning and image creation (the latter recently popularised by younger Instagram users) could empower PR professionals to create content that's higher quality, more quickly and - perhaps most importantly of all - more engaging for stakeholders.

According to a recent survey by PR NewsWire, 92% of PR professionals believe "AI is worth exploring". To meet this growing curiosity, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations has launched a cutting-edge course, An Introduction to Artificial intelligence in PR, that Andrew Bruce-Smith, Chair of the CIPR AI in PR panel, and Director of digital comms agency Escherman, says has come at a crucial time for the industry. "There's literally no aspect of PR that can't in some shape or form be impacted by AI, whether it's research, planning, media relations, stakeholder engagement, measurement and evaluation," he says. Andrew, cited in 2018 by the CIPR as ‘one of PR's greatest thinkers', says members of the course can expect "to have their minds blown".

But what are the tools that have the most potential to revolutionise PR?
Machine learning algorithms, Andrew explains, can be used to analyse large amounts of data and uncover insights that a human being would take too long (or never) discover. Until recently, this capability was only available to those with access to high levels of IT investment and expertise. Now, machine learning is available to anyone who wants to use it. "Tens of thousands of PR professionals will already have data in spreadsheets, full of headlines or content," he says. "Google Sheets can now analyse that data for sentiment or other meaningful insights." And it's more sophisticated than you'd imagine. "I've tested it, and it provides more than just ‘positive', ‘neutral', ‘negative'. It gives you a fuller range of sentiments. Or it can come back with 100 alternative press release or email pitch headlines with one click of a button."
 

A palette of possibilities

One of the most popular AI applications used by PR pros is natural language generation (NLG) - although it's one that has inspired a lot of unrest amongst writers and similar creatives. NLG uses Large Language Models (LLMs) to create text from content sources, such as the web. It can be used to quickly generate content, in the form of press releases and articles, for example. "It's a question of probability," explains Andrew. "Take the phrase ‘the first man on the moon was…'. The AI has essentially computed there's a 99.9% probability the next word will be Neil, and the next, Armstrong." The AI is thus trained on a huge amount of content to allow it to intelligently generate new content in a way that is intelligible to a human being.

Neural networks are a form of AI designed to mimic the way neurons in the brain process information, and can be used to solve complex problems. "By training neural networks on large amounts of data, they can learn patterns and make predictions," says Andrew. This makes them powerful tools for areas such as audience-building in advertising: neural networks are able to trawl through data and analyse audience behaviour at a deeper level, leading to more targeted content and - it is claimed - higher conversion rates.

Possibly some of the most well-known tools used for AI image and video creation (Mid-Journey and Runway ML being two examples), are able to generate visuals or video from text prompts. And this could be a real benefit to time-poor staff. "Many a PR professional has the responsibility for generating content with very little time or resource," Andrew says. "Generative AI opens up the palette of possibilities, allowing you to create great content more quickly." However, he says it might not be perfect. "It's still down to the human being to make informed and intelligent decisions about when to use a tool, and when it would be more appropriate to hire a skilled photographer!" 
 

The human factor

Despite the fear-mongering in the media, Andrew says there's no need to fear the power of AI - at least not yet. "I don't subscribe to any Doomsday beliefs, or think Skynet will take over," he laughs. "AI should only ever be an assistant to human beings. It relies very much on our ability to give it the right prompts, whether for written content or for video creation - it has not got its head around originality or creativity - yet." In fact, he's optimistic about the importance of human input for the foreseeable future: "I suspect the human element will continue to be valued and highly prized…at least for next few years."

Andrew very much believes that AI has the potential to free up our time and improve our working lives. "AI is better at doing the heavy lifting around routine tasks; as PR professionals, we should let it get on with that grunt work and focus on what we're good at: communication and building meaningful relationships."

AI for PR Professionals is a one-day course booking now on various dates throughout 2023. Find out more and book your place: http://ow.ly/RNJX50NcyNW