AI is not the future. It is in the now, almost ubiquitous from facial rec phone unlocking and Alexa powering up home devices to transacting online and navigating the road.
From being previously confined to sci-fi films, artificial intelligence has penetrated our everyday life, changing how we do things from making coffee (yes, AI-powered coffee machines are here, maybe at their early stages but they’re here) to lighting and networking our homes to getting to work and actually doing our office work. AI is transforming our day to day, in the process recalibrating not just our perspective but maybe our way of life in general.
If we expected AI to alter our lives in a radical, over-the-top way like in the movies and TV shows, we’re so wrong. We take it for granted or maybe we don’t realize it, but we’re already tethered to the technology. The moment we read up online to check on news and see all those push ads, AI is already at work. When we input our destination into our car’s navigation device, we leave it to AI to take us to wherever we’re headed for the day. When we scroll through our social media before going to bed, the mix of content that we see is based on AI analysis of our previous interface with such platforms. In this sense, we also let AI influence the future content we consume, which could impact our knowledge base and viewpoints.
AI is permeating even how our children learn. Data from Instructure Holdings, Inc., a leading learning platform and expert in learning management systems, show both educators and students in the Philippines adopting AI in their respective tasks. Content creation tops AI use among educators at 62 percent, followed by research and writing (56%) and personalized learning (53%), according to Instructure’s 2023 State of Student Success and Engagement in Higher Education. Among students, research and writing tops the areas where AI is used the most (83%), followed by test preparation at 52 percent and foreign language learning at 47 percent.
In the workplace, AI has definitely taken root. In fact, Filipino knowledge workers beat their global and regional counterparts in terms of AI use at work, according to The 2024 Work Trend Index from Microsoft Corp. and LinkedIn.
The study reveals that AI is used by 86 percent of Filipino knowledge workers, higher than the global and regional averages of 75 percent and 83 percent, respectively. Eighty-three percent of Filipino AI users even practice BYOAI or Bring Your Own AI to work, against 78 percent globally and 79 percent regionally. Eighty-nine percent of Filipino leaders see the value of adopting AI to boost company competitiveness.
AI in PR
In the field of public relations in the Philippines, despite the unavailability of data, it’s safe to extrapolate that like in other industries AI is likewise disrupting processes and ways of working. For one, positive sentiment and engagement in regard to AI are strongest among the younger population — millennials and Gen Zs. These same groups make up a large portion of many PR companies, and other companies in other industries for that matter, in the country.
Further, the same trends in the global PR industry can be deemed happening in the local scene. Nearly 70 percent of PR professionals surveyed in The State of PR Technology 2023 study by Prowly, a PR and media relations software company, already use PR in their work. With many Philippine PR agencies affiliated with or being influenced by global PR companies, it is not unlikely such agencies are also pivoting to AI.
As PR professionals address efficiency, workload and burnout issues, they turn to new technologies and tools and acknowledge the advantages of incorporating AI in PR work. As such, AI is proving beneficial across the different functions of PR, from research and idea generation to content creation through reporting and monitoring.
Idea generation and content creation are the top two areas where AI is widely utilized, with the Prowly study showing they have 77.8 percent and 72.4 percent share, respectively, of how PR professionals use ChatGPT. Especially with deadlines being ever so tight, AI can speed up brainstorming for proposal or topics to write, which means greater efficiency and productivity without the extra stress and burnout. Even in drafting emails and posts for social media and working over writer’s block, AI is increasingly becoming a go-to solution.
Machine learning and other AI algorithms make working with big data much faster and more accurate, enabling researchers to analyze information and draw actionable insights into market trends and consumer behaviors and preferences.
Predictive analytics can be much more specific with AI. With generative AI, PR practitioners are unearthing new ways to make the most of social listening and from there create more tailored, even personalized content that connects better with their audiences. This obviously helps in targeting campaigns and activations, even regular press releases and digital and social media content. To monitor and analyze the performance of these campaigns, press releases and social media posts, there are monitoring AI tools available to media relations professionals that they can use for sentiment analysis even in real-time.
Enhanced sentiment analysis capability can potentially enable PR practitioners and brands to avert crisis and reputation issues, thereby optimizing their reputation and crisis management systems. AI can be leveraged for a quick response plan or content.
All in all, the automation of repetitive tasks and faster completion of these tasks make AI tools valuable in PR work as they lead to increased efficiency and productivity at less cost and within shorter time frames. Better market insights resulting from more accurate and faster research and media monitoring plus reporting of activities meanwhile make for more effective PR campaigns and activities.
In terms of direct market interaction, AI chatbots have proven to be effective to cut response time. They are useful additions to companies’ websites and social media platforms, another way to bring brands closer to their public and boost engagement and even customer service.
Let’s not forget cost. Many AI tools available now are free and easily accessed. They have user-friendly interfaces that do not require training at all. All these make AI even more appealing to individuals and companies, especially smaller companies with limited budgets.
Watch out for part 2 of this article on artificial intelligence as it penetrates the field of public relations.
