Public relations braces for AI

While AI could automate tactical public relations uniquely human strategic skills are at low risk of substitution, according to a Government report.

A Government report published by the Department of Education aims to quantify the impact of AI on the UK job market. The Impact of AI on UK Jobs and Training assesses the exposure of different occupations, sectors, geographies, and qualifications to AI.

Public relations professionals are listed as one of the occupations most exposed to large language models (ranked 9th), which includes technologies such as ChatGPT. It suggests strong potential for augmentation from generative AI that could aid writing, content creation, messaging, and other everyday public relations tasks.

The Impact of AI on UK Jobs and Training, Department for Education (p12, November 2023)

The report acknowledges that quantifying exposure to AI relies on uncertain assumptions about which abilities are important for jobs and how they may be automated. These assumptions only partially capture the nuances of some roles.

Public relations encompasses a broad range of functions - from tactical media activities to strategic relationship management.

In the rankings for exposure to all AI applications, public relations professionals place lower (ranked 80th). This reflects that many core capabilities require human skills around strategy, relationships and creativity that cannot be easily automated.

The scoring breaks down occupations into defined abilities. However, social and organisational factors will likely enable or constrain AI adoption as much as technical feasibility. These softer factors are hard to quantify.

The adoption rate of technology within organisations is seldom raised within the AI debate. It’s an important cultural and social consideration in economies dominated by small businesses such as the UK.

It argues that professional occupations are more exposed to AI, particularly finance, law, business management, and teaching roles. This includes management consultants, accountants, psychologists, and further education teachers. 

The finance and insurance sectors have the highest exposure to AI across all industries. Other highly exposed sectors are information and communication, professional services, property, public administration and education.

Workers in London and the South East have the highest exposure to AI, reflecting the concentration of professional roles. Workers in the North East have the lowest exposure. However, geographical exposure differences are smaller than across occupations and sectors.

The qualification analysis shows correlation not causation - those with higher qualifications tend to be in more professional and technical roles but their specific subject may not directly lead to AI-exposed work. 

The analysis considers relative exposure to AI rather than estimating absolute job impacts. Most jobs are likely to be aided rather than substituted by AI. The minority of roles at high risk of full automation tend to be administrative, content and customer service focused.

Public relations practitioners need to embrace AI to work smarter and more efficiently. The potential of AI to automate tactical activities and augment the strategic management role is clear.

The message is clear for public relations practitioners: you need to up your professional game and align with management.