AI and the Future of PR: What Communicators Need to Know
Posted by Graham24 on Jun. 27, 2025 / Subscribe 0
Artificial Intelligence is rapidly transforming the marketing, communications, and public relations landscape—bringing both disruption and unprecedented opportunity. For PR professionals, AI is not a threat to replace creativity or strategic thinking, but a powerful tool to accelerate workflows, generate insights, and enhance storytelling.
Panelists at the Chapter's June 18 webinar, "CTRL + Communicate: AI’s Role in Modern PR," shared how comms pros are using AI and gave actionable steps to integrate this new technology into practice. Thank you to our distinguished speakers—Rosanna Turner, copywriter, communications specialist, and content strategist; Craig Petinak, director of public relations and communications services at the Riverside County Office of Education; Daniel Rhodes of Westbound Communications and an AI guru; Anne Murphy, founder of She Leads AI—for the timely information and sage advice.
1. Productivity and Time-Saving Tools
AI is already streamlining PR tasks like writing, summarizing, and synthesizing complex information. Tools like ChatGPT can draft press releases, talking points, and media briefs in a fraction of the time, especially when trained with custom instructions. AI also plays a major role in internal communications, helping to build team culture and communicate effectively at scale.
2. Shifting Roles and New Opportunities
While some traditional writing jobs may diminish, the panelists agree: AI creates room for new roles—like AI content editors, strategists, and communications advisors within tech environments. The need for professionals who can manage, edit, and refine AI-generated content is growing. The future belongs to those who understand how to blend human creativity with AI capability.
3. Storytelling, Strategy & the Human Element
Despite its capabilities, AI lacks context, nuance, and emotional intelligence. This opens an opportunity for communicators to lean more deeply into strategic storytelling, relationship-building, and ethical leadership. Empathy, curiosity, and critical thinking will become defining skills for the next generation of PR leaders.
4. Learning the Tools: Start with One
The panel recommends starting with the paid version of ChatGPT (4 or 4.5) to master core functions like writing, summarization, image generation, and even data analysis. Other tools mentioned include Midjourney (for images), Runway (for video), and Manus (for agent-based critical thinking). Prompt engineering—learning how to talk to AI effectively—is a crucial skill to develop.
5. Ethics, Copyright & Policy
PR pros must understand the legal and ethical boundaries of AI. For example, content solely created by AI (such as logos or taglines) cannot be copyrighted. Transparency with clients and stakeholders is essential. Every organization should have an AI policy—a living document outlining acceptable use, data privacy standards, and areas where AI should not be used.
6. The Next Frontier
In five to ten years, content creation will shift toward audio, video, and multimodal storytelling. Communicators will need to create messages across multiple formats—text, podcast, video, images—to remain relevant. The focus will also move from content-sharing to insight-sharing, where AI helps surface actionable intelligence that shapes decisions.
7. Final Advice: Stay Curious, Stay Human
AI is here to stay, and it’s evolving fast. The most successful communicators will be those who stay curious, use the tools regularly, and maintain their uniquely human touch. As Anne put it, “You’ll be doing the best work you’ve ever done—faster, smarter, and more meaningfully—if you add AI to your arsenal.”
In short: Don’t fear AI. Learn it, lead with it, and let it elevate your craft.
RESOURCES & information
Prompt Me, a newsletter that breaks down generative AI and content trends for busy professionals
Manus.im is an autonomous artificial intelligence agent designed to independently carry out complex online tasks without direct/continuous human guidance.
She Leads AI, Uniting accomplished women to advance AI for global prosperity; focused on people, process and culture in the AI revolution. Resources include courses, leadership bootcamps, AI readiness program, AI consultancy, public affairs and policy, She Leads Reads book club.
chatblackgpt.ai, Culturally informed AI
LXAI, global community of LatinX in AI professionals
Why AI uses so much energy—and what we can do about it, Penn State Institute of Energy and the Environment
Portions of this content were developed with assistance from Otter.ai, real-time transcription and note-taking, and ChatGPT, an AI language model developed by OpenAI.
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