 AI offers a tempting prospect; a shorter, less labor-intensive path to written content creation. What marketing director wouldn't want that? Yet, while there are times when using AI can help you see things differently and while there are times when it might clarify your understanding of a complex subject, when it comes to the creative and strategic writing side of comms, I strongly caution you against the use of AI. On the surface it looks harmless; you’re going to type in some prompts and use what AI spits out to make a press release. But don’t be fooled.
Yes, AI can do some really amazing stuff, however, problems quickly emerge when we expect AI to take on the things that we, as humans, are not only capable of but readily skilled at doing. I've said it before, I want AI to help me figure out things like doing taxes, or offer possible solutions to complex problems whose answers already likely exist in a series of datasets, and just need to be tracked down. Show me the quickest route out of town during traffic on a Friday. Don't try to tell me the meaning of life. We already know it's 42. I know so many marketing people and creatives who are terrified that AI will take their jobs. What I really see happening is companies downsizing their creative teams, assuming that the remaining creatives can just use AI to generate the same quality and volume of content previously provided by said team. Not only will this not work, it will set brands back significantly, as their audiences lose interest and opt for brands who still understand how to engage. Still thinking about using AI to write your next press release? Here are five reasons that’s a bad idea. 1. Your Headline is Going to Lack Luster AI can be really great at summarizing things, but it has no idea how to weight the ideas that should be at the front of the story. Humans have short attention spans. They don’t have time to sit through a list of facts before getting to the heart of “why this story actually matters.” AI can’t tell you with certainty why something matters to your audience. That’s your job. 2. Your Flow Won’t Compel Readers One of the most important elements of a truly good press release is flow. It’s something my clients ask me to help them figure out after they’ve internally workshopped a press release for days, often weeks. Helping clients figure out the flow of their press release is something that comes easily to me as a comms consultant. I see the path of the story through the clutter of the facts and help them draw that out. It’s part science, part alchemy. AI, however, is not intrinsically good at determining what makes something compelling to humans, and it will have no idea how to craft that into a narrative that makes sense to your target audience. 3. It Won’t Deepen Your Brand’s Relationship with Your Audience AI has no idea why customers love your brand specifically and it certainly has no idea how they feel, or what feelings even are. AI is really good at pattern recognition, but not so much about seeing the nuance of the details, the vibe of the zeitgeist, or the overall attitudes of the public day-to-day, or season-to-season. Good press releases are going to be what the press uses to write the stories that reach your audience. Your press release should build a relationship with your audience. That’s hard to do when you outsource what should be your brand’s hand-crafted, personal message and values to a machine. 4. It Won’t Stand Out To Reporters AI has no idea what makes reporters want to cover your story. It might know what’s going on in the news right now, but it can’t connect that to the email pitches, social media posts, and press releases that it took to make that news happen (not yet anyway). What makes tomorrow’s headlines are being talked about in newsrooms and editorial meetings today and AI has no idea what people are saying in there because it hasn’t been published yet (at least, we hope AI isn’t privy to those conversations). But humans, we have hunches, we have intuition, we have ways of thinking into the future that might get a reporter’s attention. We know how to make our press release relevant to news cycles today, and tomorrow, and beyond because we’re skilled professionals. 5. You Risk Sounding Like Everyone Else Will AI give you an overall story that technically hits all the points and passes basic inspection? Probably. Will it ever create anything new? No. AI works entirely from things that have already been created. It does not know how to create something new. It does not know what humans are actually thinking and it certainly doesn't see things in the way that humans do. This can be a huge advantage in a lot of areas, but not really in communications. Communications is predicated on an understanding of how humans connect with each other. This is partly based on how we share information but also how we show up for each other and how we build significant relationships with our friends, family, community, and the world at large. Communications is also about our interactions with human built, and often, complicated systems and ideas. The Bottom Line: Your brand's press release is an opportunity for you to create something new and interesting that will not only get reporters’ attention but educate them on what they need to know to create a story that's going to engage your target audience. Why would you risk the creation of something so weirdly and profoundly human, to an algorithm?
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About Jacobson Communication
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Jacobson Communication specializes in public relations and creative services for growing niche brands, including startups, theme parks, musicians, authors, nonprofits, and more. From audience awareness to brand development, and positive social change, you'll be surprised what better communications can do for your brand.
A Word About Generative AI in Regards to
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Land AcknowledgementAcknowledgement to the southern Lushootseed-speaking Coast Salish Indigenous Peoples whose land I live and work on.
This land also includes the traditional land and waterways of the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish People of past and present. It is with honor and gratitude to the land itself, the plants, animals, and the Duwamish Tribe that I practice my work. This land is also on and adjacent to the traditional homelands and waterways of the Puyallup Tribe. The Puyallup people have lived on and stewarded these lands since the beginning of time and continue to do so today. I recognize that this land acknowledgement is one small step toward true allyship, and I commit to uplifting the voices, experiences, and histories of the Indigenous people of this land and beyond. To learn more about the Puyallup Tribal Language program, visit: https://www.puyalluptriballanguage.org Personal StatementIt is my hope that we all deepen our understanding, awareness, and relationship to where we live in the world, and that we, individually and as a group, do our part to heal the wounds caused by genocide, enslavement, displacement, and other such atrocities, many of which have been intentionally carried forward into our present day and built into modern systems of power. Here is a list of books that might help you on your way to decolonizing the mind.
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