Much like a butterfly shifting and shaping until it soars on delicate wings, public relations has evolved from its humble origin in the 1800s, when it was coined the ‘art of persuasive speaking’, through to the establishment of the ‘Publicity Bureau’.
This was a firm created in 1900 by three former newspapermen in a move widely regarded as the start of the modern public relations profession to emerge as the sophisticated 21st century public relations industry that we know.
The transformation of public relations through the ages is testimony to the integral role it plays in the world of business today.
Public relations has stood the test of time, and for good reason. When done right it paves the way for business to succeed and fulfils its primary role – to build credibility and trust, to effectively position companies, brands and people and to build and manage reputations.
Harnessing creativity and problem-solving
Without this groundwork, the fundamental reason for the existence of any business – to sell its services or products – would simply prove to be too backbreaking and would take far too long to be competitive in the current business landscape.
Perhaps the greatest potentiality of public relations is that it harnesses both creativity and problem-solving skills to influence and guide perception and decision. Long before we craft and share the message, we evaluate what is needed and wanted and articulate this succinctly through a solutions-driven communications plan.
Then we unleash finely crafted narratives in meticulously packaged forms on the world of media and marketing and that’s when the magic happens.
Good PR builds credibility and shapes perception. That is how we move the dial and position thought leaders and successful brands. That is why PR continues to show up as a power player. This is true now, more than ever.
PR in the era of AI
Successful public relations lies in the hands of communicators who can articulate the beliefs, values, perspectives and opinions of business leaders and that of their businesses and brands, and land them as original thought.
It is not coincidental that 82% of consumers support and buy from brands and companies that align with their values or beliefs. Research-backed data easily verifies this. Likewise, we are more likely to trust and follow leaders who reflect these values too. That is simply how we humans are built.
Authentic communication, built on truth and compelling original content, is critical to successfully positioning a company – and never before has this been more important than in this new age of artificial intelligence.
Truth and trust
As AI evolves and is integrated into key spheres of marketing, advertising and PR, it is being met with no small degree of scepticism and distrust, by humans questioning its ability – or its intention for that matter – to distinguish between true data and misinformation.
Which brings us to the matter of Truth and Trust. The spread of disinformation has eroded public trust in the media and, consequently, called into question the trustworthiness of businesses and brands that feature on these media platforms.
Gallup, a global analytics and advisory firm known for its expertise in public opinion polling and workplace performance, recently found that only 31% of consumers have a fair amount of confidence that the mass media reports news accurately.
That leaves almost 70% of people who no longer believe the mainstream media are reporting truthfully. This is a very sad and even dangerous state of affairs.
With AI search engines and LLM’s like Google AI Search and ChatGPT at the centre of this watershed moment, PR professionals are increasingly having to take on the role of truth seekers – and indeed truth tellers.
Reputation is everything
Unsurprisingly, reputation management in this new ‘age of the machine’ now involves sifting through fake news, misinformation and digital conspiracies to set the record straight.
According to an Edelman poll, a huge 64% of consumers say they would boycott a brand based on its stance on social or political issues. This means brands need to work harder than ever before to be perceived as credible – and PR is the partner that delivers on this.
Training the algorithm
While AI is empowering all of us to access data more easily to make more informed decisions, the danger of misinformation is very real. Like journalists, PR people have long been exceptional researchers and know how to interpret data and package it for purpose and for resonance.
We have had to learn fast how to ‘work the machine’ so that the content we create is relevant and strategically positioned for the ‘AI machines’ to pick up on.
It is true that the Google AI Search engine and LLM’s like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Grok, look for contextually rich content that provides clarity and substance – in fact, they seek out original content.
PR professionals are proficient in shaping narratives that resonate with real people, and are uniquely positioned to deliver this, because we know how to integrate story with substance and sentiment in a way that rings true.
AI is our friend
We are not strangers to riding new waves; we’ve embraced new media formats like podcasts, and social media trends, including the likes of LinkedIn video and now GenAI. We understand how AI-powered search tools consolidate content in a new, dynamic way and have incorporated it all into our PR ‘toolbox’.
As forward-thinking communicators and creators, it gets our blood pumping and kicks our minds into high gear.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t real concerns though. Sam Altman of Open AI has admitted that ChatGPT has an annoying sycophantic streak – displaying self-serving traits that mimic insincere flattery – and that the company is fixing the problem.
We don’t yet know if the correlation between ChatGPT use and lower critical thinking skills, noted in a recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)study, means that AI really will make us more stupid and bored, but evidently caution is necessary and discerning thought even more so.
All things considered, AI is (still) our friend. In its different iterations it empowers us in so many ways to offer a far more refined service. AI can automate tasks and provide factual insights, and will no doubt offer even more in the same vein in the years to come
Cutting through the digital noise
AI enables the broader industry to cut through digital noise with real-time media and social monitoring. Tools can scan thousands of mentions, articles, and posts performing sentiment analysis and trend recognition instantly, a process that would be impossible manually.
This frees teams from routine tasks like scanning vast amounts of data and scheduling posts and enables them to focus on strategic work and creative thinking. There’s no doubt that AI tools and applications can improve both speed and quality of output.
That said, machine-generated content still requires human oversight. While machines can write grammatically correct and factually accurate content, they often lack emotional nuance, cultural context, or authentic brand voice, areas where human communicators shine.
When it comes to original thought, an innate understanding of human beings is essential. Only humans instinctively resonate with each other’s hopes, dreams and fears. This is where the sentient human being simply can’t be replaced.
Truth matters
When all is said and done, it is our ability to think critically, to empathise with others by drawing on our own experiences to build the narrative, that lands a person or company’s messages and story.
We are innately storytellers. We pitch our stories to real people, so we understand that relationships are everything. This new age of AI offers us the opportunity to execute faster, smarter, and at lower cost, and to spend more time telling personalised, (true) data‑backed stories with emotional intelligence, that resonate with our audiences and each other.
We understand that truth matters. In fact, we know it matters most – not least because we are now, whether by design or by chance, defenders of the truth.
Rebecca Cronje (founder) and Rebecca Atherstone (senior consultant) at Cultivate Communications, an AI aligned brand and communications consultancy.
