AI tool explosion set to disrupt public relations

A CIPR report considers the future impact of AI on public relations practice.

A report published by the CIPR finds that the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on public relations has been limited in the past five years but is set the explode. It identifies more than 5,800 tools with applications in public relations workflow but until very recently limited application of AI.

The report was researched and written by Andrew Bruce Smith and myself, with support from Prof Anne Gregory, Jean Valin, and Scott Brinker.

The CIPR has been at the forefront of exploring the impact of technology on public relations and society over the past 30 years through work on the internet, social media, and most recently AI, data, and machine learning.

The latest report - Artificial Intelligence tools and the impact on public relations practice - has been nine months in the making due to the dynamic nature of the tool market and applications of AI.

My personal view is that AI is set to be as disruptive to public relations, in good ways and bad, as the internet.

Andrew and I originally set out the scope of the project in May 2022. The plan was to update a report from five years ago about the tool market for public relations. The report was ready for publication in October, however the launch of tools based on the GPT-3 dataset led to a complete reappraisal of the project.

The report is a story of two halves. The first half examines the current tool landscape for public relations and is based on analysis of the Chiefmartec dataset built by Scott Brinker. The second identifies the explosion to come in communications, public relations, and marketing tools because of the GPT-3 Large Language Model and other related AI-based technologies.

We sought the help of Scott, founder, and editor of the Chiefmartec website, to characterise the tool market for public relations. Scott has built a comprehensive dataset of more than 10,000 tools used in marketing and related fields including public relations. The Chiefmartec database, published each year since 2011, is an open-source project that invites public submissions.

Our analysis suggests that there are 18 categories, involving around 5,800 tools that have the potential to be applied to public relations practice ranging from stakeholder management to web analytics, and from content management to project management. We’d encourage you to explore the dataset for yourself.

Up until November 2022, the market for public relations tools has been characterised by point solutions focussed on a specific application. There’s limited evidence of integrated solutions. Innovation in tools in public relations, and adoption by practitioners, appeared to have changed little in the past five years.

We can already see that November 2022 was an inflection point. The rapid arrival and accessibility of a new generation of generative AI and machine learning tools and services, coupled with the relatively easy ability to integrate these technologies, has since created the potential for significant effects upon all aspects of the public relations profession.

We have attempted to examine the potential impact on public relations practice and the public sphere. Reaction so far within the public relations industry seems divided between those who see it as an existential threat - or an opportunity to augment the role of the professional.

We call for urgent attention to the ethical issues thrown up by the rapid growth of AI, including whether practitioners need to declare using AI in their work and whether the technology could be weaponised to create misinformation at unimaginable speed and scale.

Thanks Anne and Jean for their support and critical review of the project. Thanks also to Katie King, CEO, AI in Business, and author of AI Strategy for Sales and Marketing, and Scott, for reviewing the final report and each providing their own perspectives.

Finally, thanks to the CIPR’s Alastair McCapra and Jon Gerlis, for supporting this project. It takes bravery to publish a report of this nature.