New discoveries are made every day. Amazing advances in technology are happening at an unprecedented rate. And yes, the rise of AI (Artificial Intelligence) is nothing new, but how it impacts our lives, and our careers, is new.
According to a Harvard Business Review article, a recent study from Forrester estimated that 10% of U.S. jobs would be automated this year, and another from McKinsey estimates that close to half of all U.S. jobs may be automated in the next decade.
Machines can’t replicate the soft skills of PR Pros, or build the same relationships as communications experts (yet).
But, they deliver information to audiences at a rapid rate, provide huge amounts of data and even write stories in some cases (do you think people still write the box scores or recaps of sporting events?).
The list goes on and on – here’s an article from our friends at Spin Sucks about AI vs. PR skills.
That doesn’t mean that PR professionals are obsolete or the need to have communications experts is gone. It’s more important now than ever.
This DOES mean that we need to evolve as a profession and an industry. We need to take the reins and lead the way to find innovative ways to use these innovations.
The rise of technology means previously inaccessible information is now at our fingertips. We can now find creative and meaningful ways to tie our metrics to the success of business results.
And let’s face it, if we can prove value, we’re in danger of extinction already.
We know when audiences are engaging with content and taking action as a result, and we can look at large sets of data and determine what that means for our campaigns and clients.
We can make adjustments on the fly to our paid campaigns – or ensure the proper AI is set up to do it for us.
Insights. Information. Data. Intelligence. Updates.
Call it what you want, but we need these things to elevate what we do as communications professionals.
So, in fact, we are not smarter than AI or Innovation – but the good news is that we don’t have to be.
We just have to be smart enough to coexist in a synergistic way, enhancing the value we bring to our clients, and to our industry.
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