AI in PR: assistant or competitor? How technology is changing communications, and what professionals can expect in the future

Can a machine write texts better than a human being? Will neural networks replace PR specialists? While some experts claim that AI is merely a tool, others are depicting a future in which press releases, interviews and even creative campaigns will be produced without human participation.

Polina Trizonova, head of Sber’s press office, talks about why PR will remain a “human” profession after all, what jobs AI can actually do better than people, and where it is still impotent. She provides some real examples of how technology can be applied in PR, and reflects on how AI is impacting creativity and the key skills that will be required by future specialists.

— How do you think artificial intelligence has changed the PR industry in recent years?

— To be honest, it hasn’t yet changed much in our PR industry. The technology is relatively new and still needs to be customized for highly specialized applied communications tasks. We still work in the “old school” way, calling journalists, offering exclusives, organizing meetings and press conferences, and writing columns and interviews. Yet AI has enormous potential. In the long term, it will be able to take over the process of preparing communications, though I think people will remain in charge of promotion via distribution channels.

— What kinds of PR tasks are already being successfully automated using AI, and which still require human involvement? Is it correct to say that AI is coping better than human beings, or is it still just a back-up tool?

— AI is terrific for anything involving routine or algorithms: analyzing and structuring information, classifying data, transcribing audio recordings, and producing headlines. But it still can’t write full-fledged publications.

Last year, we came up with the idea of publishing a joint issue of the ‘Russian Pioneer’ journal fully generated by AI. The texts it produced were still poor, however, though it did an excellent job on the illustrations. In the end, we had to write the articles together with the journalists.

It’s also worth remembering that AI takes information from the internet, where there is a lot of distortion. It doesn’t know how to do factchecking, so you need experienced specialists for that. So, for the moment, human intelligence is still ahead.

— Can you give us some examples of how AI is used in PR projects?

— As I already mentioned, we used AI to produce an issue of the ‘Russian Pioneer’ journal. In collaboration with AI and media editorial offices, we’ve also run special projects for ‘Snob’ magazine and the RBC newspaper. And of course, the most interesting and newest project is what we are doing right now with your resource: GigaChat can produce concise summaries of articles on Durov’s Code and compile news round-ups, while Kandinsky can generate covers for the articles.

— How efficient do you think AI tools are compared to the traditional ways? Are there any examples of AI being more efficient?

— AI is much more creative than PR managers when it comes to thinking up titles. Compared to the average press office staffer, AI is more inventive, which is understandable because its eyes don’t glaze over in the daily flow of press releases.

AI has also learned how to transcribe audio really well, which makes it a trusty helper during press events when you need to urgently issue a statement by a senior executive and have no time for transcribing.

— Can AI completely replace PR specialists? How much longer will PR remain a “human” profession? How do you see things developing over the next 5-10 years?

—  I think, or rather hope, that artificial intelligence will never be able to fully replace PR specialists. Because our work is actually much broader than a set of technical functions such as writing press releases, columns or interviews.

PR is about analyzing the information field, reacting to crises, drawing up and implementing often personalized rather than standard strategies. This requires trend awareness, experience and sometimes deliberate risk-taking. It’s impossible to fit all this into mathematical models. We work with people and for people, and ths function cannot be automated.

— What ethical issues arise when using AI in communications, and how should they be handled?

— This is really a question for our colleagues who work with the media – the editors, who occasionally have issues around authorship. Some of them even warn their copywriters when they assign their tasks that they “cannot use AI, we know how to spot such texts”. The general view is that AI texts are of poor quality, or else plagiaristic.

Personally, I’m more relaxed about these things: if an AI has written a text better than a human, then perhaps that particular function should be given to a machine. I think it will soon be simpler to find an AI specialist than a talented copywriter.

— What new skills, apart from the traditional ones, does a PR specialist need to possess? What competences do you think are key for the specialist of the future?

— First of all, interpersonal skills - you need to love people and love communicating with them. Secondly, curiosity – you have to be interested in what’s happening and keep up to date. This will be useful for planning communications.

And finally, you need to be bold and willing to take on risk. Only unorthodox campaigns have a chance of being remembered by the audience and becoming part of a portfolio of outstanding cases.

— How should PR specialists adapt to fast-changing technology and make effective use of AI in their work?

— Study the trends, keep an eye on what’s happening in international markets, and learn new stuff. It’s important that PR specialists see beyond their narrow professional focus and find new formats for working with the audience using the best combination of AI technologies and traditional methods.