Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already here; it’s a reality and far from being just a trend. In fact, it represents a milestone as significant as the advent of the internet or e-commerce.

AI has been part of our daily lives for quite some time: from chatbots used by companies to automatically respond to frequently asked questions and simulate human conversations, thereby improving customer service efficiency, to personalized recommendations from platforms like Netflix or Amazon, which analyze our behavior to suggest content. AI is also present in facial recognition systems that use algorithms to identify and verify people’s identities based on images, in applications like Waze that use AI to provide optimized routes and estimated arrival times by analyzing real-time traffic and road conditions, and in virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa… Who among us hasn’t asked them for help at some point?

Given this, while AI is already familiar to most, it’s the emergence of generative AI that has sparked both alarms and excitement (depending on how and who you ask). After all, who hasn’t considered the vast possibilities of delegating tasks that require less “humanization” (which we, as professionals, reserve for ourselves) to these tools? Conversely, who hasn’t heard concerns that AI might eventually replace human jobs, or even that “machines” might take over the world?

Whatever the case, let’s not panic! Similar concerns were voiced when the internet arrived, and now we all use it naturally. We must recognize that AI is not a replacement for human work but rather a tool to enhance our productivity.

In the field of communication and public relations, we see how generative AI has become a powerful tool. However, this raises an inevitable question: Is generative AI an ally in our daily work, or does it pose a threat to our profession by proliferating nearly identical and dehumanized content?

AI as a Strategic Ally

It’s crucial not to overlook the positive potential that generative AI offers. Instead of viewing it as competition, we should learn to harness it as a tool that complements and enhances our work because:

• AI can handle routine tasks like drafting content, conducting preliminary research, or generating ideas, freeing up time for professionals to focus on more strategic and creative aspects.
• Advanced AI tools can analyze large volumes of data to help create more personalized messages targeted at specific audiences, improving the effectiveness of campaigns.
• AI can also assist in optimizing content for SEO by analyzing trends and suggesting improvements, ensuring that the content is not only relevant but also visible in search engines.
• Far from replacing human creativity, AI can serve as a source of inspiration, providing ideas that we can refine and develop into unique and persuasive messages.

Getting Down to Business: The Importance of the Prompt

At this point, how can we make the most of our new strategic ally? The answer lies in the prompt, which is the instruction given to generative AI.

Indeed, the quality of the results we get from these tools largely depends on the clarity and precision with which we formulate our requests.

Some points to consider when crafting a prompt:

• Clarity and Specificity: The clearer and more specific the prompt, the more precise the result will be. Instead of simply asking for “ideas for an article on wine tourism,” you could say, “ideas for an article promoting wine tourism in Spain to an audience aged 30-55 with a medium to high income.” This helps the AI understand the context and generate proposals more aligned with your needs.
• Context: Providing enough context in the prompt helps the AI better understand the final goal. Including relevant information such as the target audience, desired tone, or content purpose can make a significant difference in the quality of the output.
• Review and Refinement: The first result may not be perfect, and this is where iteration comes into play. By refining the prompt and trying different formulations, you can guide the AI toward a more satisfactory result (and help the AI continue learning).
• Supervision: Although generative AI can be very useful, it still requires human oversight. A well-crafted prompt minimizes the margin for error, but it’s always necessary to review and adjust the generated content to ensure it meets quality standards and, above all, that the information is accurate.

By applying these guidelines, you can easily transform generative AI into a tool that not only optimizes your work but also enhances your creativity, allowing you to focus on what really matters: strategy and innovation.

Beware of the Red Lines: The Importance of Balance and Judgment

The first premise to internalize is that generative AI can be a powerful ally for communication and public relations professionals, as long as it’s used with judgment and supervision. It should not be seen as a replacement for human talent but as a tool that optimizes processes and improves the quality of the final work. The key lies in finding a balance where human creativity and technological precision work together to achieve exceptional results.

As mentioned earlier, AI is not infallible, especially when using free versions, and when it doesn’t know something (or can’t find it), it sometimes makes it up. Yes, you read that right: IT MAKES IT UP. And here is the first red line not to cross: never assume something is true just because AI says it.

But if we can’t trust what it says, how is it supposed to help us, you might ask? The answer lies in the previous point, where we discussed AI as a strategic ally: it helps by providing ideas for content or campaign approaches, inspiring original ideas, or generating a headline or slogan that’s been elusive. But from those “ideas” provided by AI, our work is crucial in shaping and creating the final content, separating the wheat from the chaff. Or do we suddenly believe everything we see on the internet? Let’s apply the same logic to generative AI, please.

This brings us to the second premise, in which the future of communication and public relations is envisioned as one where AI and human professionals can coexist and complement each other, creating a more efficient but also more demanding environment in terms of quality and authenticity.

Thus, returning to the beginning and closing the circle, the question is not whether AI is a friend or foe, but how we can turn it into an ally that pushes us to be better at what we do.

Bonus Track – Some Generative AI-Based Tools

Before concluding, I want to highlight some generative AI tools that have emerged and can be very useful in the daily work of communication and public relations professionals. These tools offer different features in their free and paid versions, so the choice will depend on the user’s specific needs and the type of work being done. There are, of course, many more, but this is a small selection that I believe might be interesting as a first approach:

• ChatGPT (OpenAI): Undoubtedly the most well-known. It’s ideal for generating content drafts, answering common customer questions, or even suggesting headlines. Its flexibility makes it a versatile tool for multiple communication tasks. Available in free and premium versions.
• Chat PDF: Allows users to upload PDF documents and ask questions about their content, making it easier to quickly and efficiently extract relevant information.
• Copy.ai: This tool is specifically designed for copywriting and content creation, offering quick options for generating slogans or product descriptions, among other things.
• Gamma: Allows for the intuitive creation of visual PowerPoint presentations from text.
• Grammarly: Although not a generative tool in the same sense as the others, Grammarly uses AI to improve text quality, offering suggestions on grammar, tone, and clarity.
• Perplexity: An AI-based search engine that uses advanced language models to provide accurate and detailed answers to complex queries, integrating information from various sources.
• PlayGround: Very useful for generating images from textual descriptions. It offers options to customize style and visual elements, facilitating creative exploration through AI.

• Writesonic: Focused on creating SEO-optimized content, helping to produce blog articles, ads, and other promotional materials that need high visibility and search engine ranking.

Ana Martín Soriano 

PR Manager