Artificial Intelligence is looming in the corners of every PR firm’s office. The good news is, this advanced tech may be here to help, not get you fired.

The fear factor associated with Artificial Intelligence (AI) is that the software is rapidly taking over human jobs that require data processing and recognizing patterns in data. Long gone are the days of interns practicing data entry.

When you have a bot writing and pitching ideas to the media, human usefulness in PR is most definitely on the hot seat. The million dollar question is: can you really replace human intelligence? If not intelligence, human connection and relationships?

Find out the answer below!

Artificial Intelligence 101

Most people think of AI as some sort of robot that lives in your computer and has a mind of its own that will eventually outsmart humans.

While this may not be entirely inaccurate, the current reality of AI programs is slightly less exciting.

Easier Jobs to No Jobs

The answer to whether or not AI will take jobs is quite simply, yes.

As of now, AI is able to make data processing go faster. It is capable of recognizing extremely detailed data patterns and spitting out your preferences on the other side. A simple data point example is the number of seconds you spend on shoe websites or time spent on the website of a certain news outlet.

In terms of looking for the perfect pitch, AI will be extremely useful. It will be able to find patterns in data without parameters set by humans which will lead to new information that would not have been found had humans been doing the analyzing. Potentially, AI could tell you what to pitch, to whom, and exactly when.

Human Intelligence

Though AI technology is rapidly approaching, the human element of public relations is not ready to step aside just yet. AI is a quick learner, but it still has a lot of trust to earn, especially in the pitching aspect of PR.

There is an enormous amount of power in PR specialist and client relationships. There is trust and a bond between client and PR account manager where thoughts and tastes in marketing strategy are often the same.

It will take some time before AI can replace that completely and efficiently.

Machine Learning

The meat and potatoes of understanding AI is machine learning. Without getting too far into the technology of it, there are some need-to-know facts.

There are two types of machine learning: supervised and unsupervised.

• Supervised learning produces a more predictive model based on input and output data. The two main predictive models produced in supervised learning are classification and regression. Classification maps input directly to output whereas regression maps input to a continuous output.
• Unsupervised learning interprets data based on input data only. Data labels are not provided, but rather produced which will lead to finding patterns you never would have found had data parameters been set. Unsupervised learning will revolutionize exploratory analysis.

In essence, both methods of machine learning provide a level of accuracy that will allow you to make better decisions and predictions on important sets of data such as what advertisement campaign is producing the most website traffic.

A Look into the Future

What will be the reality of living in a world with AI in the future? How will it be used by your everyday consumer?

As of now, AI is not a stock product. It will require expert consultations for companies where it can be programmed for learning certain tasks relevant to what the company needs.

This is where the concern for jobs comes in. For example, the advertisement industry will perhaps win the “most impacted” superlative because no human intelligence will be required in deciding how, to whom, or where to run advertisements.

On the bright side, we can take comfort in the fact that it will be a slow process to completely replace human intelligence taken in gradual steps.

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