Now we know which aspects of the digital PR process we shouldn’t rely on AI. What best practices can we consider in the future to ensure that the use of AI does not impact our work?

Be transparent

If you’ve put together a digital PR campaign, it’s always a good idea to have a very clear methodology that details exactly how the project was put together. This gives journalists more information to help them ask the right questions.

AI should be viewed like any other tool. If you used it in a campaign, make it clear where and how it was used. This builds trust with journalists and your audience rather than hiding how your campaign benefited.

Use it to improve, not replace

One of the biggest criticisms of AI is that it will ultimately replace workers in certain jobs or tasks. It is intended to steer you in the right direction, speed up processes or clarify something. AI should not be used to replace someone or an entire task.

If you come to a point where you’re wondering, “Should I pay to have someone do this for me, or should I get a watered-down version of AI?”, hopefully you should already know the answer.

Don’t let it affect the quality

AI should never compromise the quality of your work. Anything you ask an AI to do should be reviewed or rewritten to ensure the quality of your work is as high, if not higher, than before you deployed it. Don’t cut corners.

Check for plagiarism and copyright issues

Because AI is a trained model that uses existing information, content, and images to create something new (much like the human mind), it is important to understand where these influences come from. In most cases, AI plagiarizes content, and you should double-check the information it provides you before filing a lawsuit.

The meaning of a human touch

In PR, the human touch remains essential and irreplaceable, especially as AI becomes more prevalent. AI should be viewed as a valuable tool to complement human expertise and not as a replacement. Humans bring unique qualities to PR that AI simply cannot replicate, and therein lies our strength.

One area in which people excel is creativity and emotional intelligence. Writing compelling narratives and connecting emotionally with audiences are skills that people excel at. Relationships in PR thrive on authenticity, empathy and adaptability, qualities that are inherent to humans. While AI can automate tasks, it cannot build real, trust-based relationships.

As long as we continue to value human interaction, AI will never replace the PR profession.

To achieve balance and ensure you don’t get left behind, PR professionals should combine AI and human engagement. AI can analyze data and quickly identify trends, providing insights that people can use to make strategic decisions. Content creation can start with AI-generated drafts, which can then be refined by humans with creativity and context.

By leveraging the strengths of AI alongside human intuition, PR can adapt to the digital age while maintaining authenticity and emotional resonance, keeping the human touch at the center.