AI is on its way to becoming a natural part of PR work. But exactly how AI will be used in the future is still quite unclear, although we probably already have some clues. What’s more, ChatGPT and other LLMs are already here, so at least we know how PR can work together with that specific type of AI.
ChatGPT is just one of several types of artificial intelligence we may end up working with in the future. With this particular type we can, for example, get help drafting an article or finding arguments for or against something we’re writing about. In such cases, a LLM is a useful tool—but at the same time, it’s not that much more revolutionary than that.
In that sense, it’s similar to Google Translate, which, by the way, is also powered by AI and has for a long time been useful for those of us working in PR and communications. At best, it has made us a little better and more efficient in our work. At worst, it results in so-called “Google Translate translations”—which is hardly ever a compliment.
Less Ethical Ways to Influence
There is also another side to AI. AI opens up possibilities for those who want to influence—in every conceivable way. And the doomsday scenarios being painted don’t seem entirely far-fetched. It appears to be fully possible to manipulate an AI. Researchers recently conducted an experiment where they replaced 1,000 images of apples with other images, which they also labeled as apples, even though they were something else entirely. This led the AI to claim that there were apples in images where there actually weren’t any. How many of the images did the researchers need to replace? Just 0.00025% of them.
The result suggests that it doesn’t take much to manipulate an AI. The question, however, is whether this is any different from attempts to influence search results on Google—something that has been going on for a long time and has sometimes succeeded. The researchers also point out that it’s probably hard to influence topics where there is already a lot of information, such as what is said about a U.S. presidential candidate before an election.
Will AI Replace PR?
Finally, we come to the question that may be of most interest to someone working in communications and PR: Will our tasks be carried out by AI instead of by humans? When will we all be laid off and replaced by machines?
The answer for now is: There are not a lot of dark clouds on the horizon—at least not yet. An AI doesn’t just need to learn how to write (something ChatGPT is already fairly good at). What it really needs is to understand what people find interesting to read. This requires a deep understanding of what currently engages us as humans—what moves us and what can influence us. In other words: context and psychology.
So far, we haven’t seen any AI come close to mastering that. Therefore, this PR agency, at least, is operating under the assumption that PR professionals will be needed for a while yet.
