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How Advancements In Artificial Intelligence Will Impact Public Relations

YEC
POST WRITTEN BY
Abbi Whitaker

The world we live in today is completely different from what it was 20 or even 10 years ago. Advancements in technology have both improved and disrupted our lives. Take, for instance, how artificial intelligence has transformed the way we communicate and get things done.We also can't overlook how machines are replacing jobs we as humans have been operating for decades. If Siri can answer our questions and Uber can develop self-driving cars, what's next on the horizon for AI?

AI will soon have a significant impact on the public relations industry. But the question is: Will the effect be a reduction of jobs, or an improvement of performance? John Bara, president and CMO of a leading predictive marketing technology company, believes big data and AI will radically change the PR industry in a positive way. An industry thought leader I’ve long admired, I reached out to Bara to get his thoughts on the intersection of AI and PR.

"Big data and AI will help the PR industry better understand readership’s core attributes," Bara wrote in an email interview. "Consider it a digital DNA, not unlike 23andMe for human DNA."

AI will help PR companies process their data at a rapid speed, improving how PR companies perform their services. With improved insight on what their consumers want, the messages being delivered are strong and direct. “Data is the fuel and the algorithm is the engine,” says Columbia University’s Professor of Mechanical Engineering Hod Lipson. “We used to program computers. Now it is machine learning, we just feed it with data.”

With improved understanding of digital DNA, PR professionals can create fine-tuned messages for their audience. Therefore, advertising and offers can be optimized specifically to an individual consumer in real-time, producing higher results due to the messaging being relevant for the consumer.

"What many people don’t know is that artificial intelligence is already affecting what news we are shown on our Facebook feeds and via news recommendations," says Bara. When you're seeing messages and images you agree with, you are more likely to click on ads that correspond with your thoughts and opinions. "The reality is, the news we are getting is becoming tailored to us, and therefore, we have a less-balanced point of view," continues Bara.

With real-time data being used as an asset, professionals in the PR and media industries are able to provide their audience with content they want, rather than content they find annoying. This helps them eliminate time being wasted on content that won't be received well by their audience. The recent presidential election is a great example of how AI influences the information we are provided through the media: "CNN and other media outlets were able to show real-time big data of voting trends by individual county and predict outcomes," says Bara. "This shrinks the news cycle to real-time news."

The Associated Press is taking advantage of AI with machines that are writing full earnings reports -- more than 3,500 each quarter for U.S. companies. It's also working to generate AI-written articles for 10,000 minor league baseball games per year. Game stats recorded by a Minor League Baseball statistician are all an AI agent needs to craft complete, AP editorial-standard coverage of the games. By letting AI machines take care of these tasks, human employees are able to focus their time on work that requires cognitive capabilities: something AI machines do not have.

Chatbots enhanced with AI will also be used for quick and effective communication. For example, Facebook now offers 11,000 chatbots via the Messenger app that allows its users to do everything, from ordering and paying for a pizza, to finding the right movie to watch. AI allows these types of features to work effectively, because it lends bots the ability to understand a question regardless of how it's asked and pull results from multiple sources at lightning-fast speeds.

AI shouldn't be feared by PR companies because it will improve their output. As noted by Bara: "Savvy PR professionals will understand that big data and AI can provide their readership with amazing, data-rich research on a myriad of topics. Companies should not fear big data and AI, they should instead embrace the trend and experiment with new stories that match big data analysis and messages to the audience."

PR and marketing professionals are constantly on the hunt for ways to make faster and more informed decisions that drive results and reach goals. AI brings about changes that will power decision-making by giving practitioners the most in-depth and comprehensive look at how to solve their problems.

The more granular our goals become — paired with smaller, more niche audiences, rapidly expanding industries and higher communication expectations — the bigger the need becomes to solve those effectively and efficiently. AI cannot do this for us outright, but it will serve as an essential component for the work we do.