Writing is an art that requires creativity, human experience, and emotions; all of these are abscent in AI argues Reva Malhotra
Can ChatGPT replace PR professionals? I asked ChatGPT itself. Here is what it returned:
“As an AI language model, I can assist in certain tasks that PR professionals perform but cannot replace them. PR professionals perform an array of tasks that require human expertise, judgment, and interpersonal skills... This involves complex human interactions, nuanced decision-making, and the ability to adapt to changing circumstances, which are difficult for AI models to replicate.”
Summarised beautifully in just a few lines by ChatGPT, the above lines are not the words of a platform too modest to toot its own horn but the measured assessment of a chatbot in its most succinct form. The AI platform and even human experts and industry professionals believe that ChatGPT can be an excellent co-worker but isn't likely to replace human resources.
Since its launch in November 2022, experts worldwide have tested the AI chatbot in various scenarios only to reach one conclusion — the platform performs best with human intervention. There is almost a unanimous opinion that ChatGPT can churn out very-well written text. Still, its inability to understand the context and intent (like humans) reduces the platform to a tool that can only augment a human's work and reduce the turnaround time but not emerge as the replacement.
Human supremacy
Ideation: The major limitation that holds back the AI platform is its inability to scout topics that could generate excitement around a business. ChatGPT can't match the human skill of developing story ideas that connect a business and its product to its customers. Often, PR professionals don't just make the company's pitch relatable for its clients and customers but come up with a story for it.
Finding the USP of a brand and weaving it into an interesting story for the target audience is a nuanced job that requires reading between the lines. Unlike human sensibilities, the AI brain isn't cultivated enough to gauge the selling point of a brand and think of story ideas just by reading the company's background and vision. This inability to comprehend the sub-text makes the platform subservient to human intelligence.
Profiling: Another crucial part of a PR professional's job is to take the story of the founder/CEO to the people in a way that invokes interest in the brand and its products/services.
The profile is meticulously drafted to help the founder/CEO win the trust of customers, clients, and investors. The humane milestones of the person's journey are given as much space as other remarkable achievements of the individual. The idea is to present the head of the company as someone who not only has the skill and vision to lead and has the best interests of clientele and investors.
Communication is the key: Yet another aspect where humans take the front seat is the ability to communicate and take feedback. PR professionals and businesses hold extensive discussions to develop narratives, campaigns, write-ups, and social media posts that capture media attention and, through them, the attention of the consumers at large. This process comes full circle when final tweaks (if any) are made following the client's feedback. While ChatGPT is an interactive platform, feeding in all the pointers to get the perfect write-up accommodating all client inclinations isn't viable without human intervention.
IQ without EQ: ChatGPT boasts impressive abilities like language translation, writing songs, answering research questions, and even generating computer code, but despite its aptitude, the platform lags behind humans for the lack of emotional intelligence. The limitations in understanding context make its content sound unnatural and machine-generated.
By its nature, the PR content is drafted not just to express but also to impress. Hence, the emotional quotient is as important as the intelligence quotient for those drafting PR strategies and write-ups. While the formal nature of text generated by ChatGPT fails to touch readers, a write-up penned by PR professionals syncs with the brand image and is peppered with emotional anecdotes and subtle humour. Therefore, a piece of content created with human intervention has more chance of striking a chord with the readers.
Pen vs Software
Some centuries ago, the world's intelligentsia argued that the pen is mightier than the sword. It was a radical idea at a time when swords and ammunition were frequently used to usurp land and dispose of governments. However, the passage of time proved that the pen was mightier than the sword We are witnessing a similar battle between the pen and the software. While there is definite merit to the argument that technology has advanced dramatically, it should also not be ignored that writing is not just about generating text. It's an art that requires creativity, human experience, and emotions — all of which are tough for a machine to follow.
(The writer is a marketing communications consultant. Her expertise includes advocacy, B2C PR, media messaging and positioning, content strategy and multi-channel marketing. Views expressed are personal)