The Colab Brief: 028 - The AI Dilemma 🧠

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Ash + Lizzy
December 02, 2023

It’s hard to believe, but it has only been a year since ChatGPT officially launched in November 2022. And what a ride it’s been. Whether it's the drama of the OpenAI saga (honestly, that warrants an entire post on its own) or the constant chatter about how it will (or will not) change our entire lives, one thing is certain. The landscape has changed. 

Today, we’re talking about AI in PR.

Let’s go.

Read Time: 4 minutes.

The conversation around AI is often one of extremes. It’s either going to take all of our jobs, create all our materials, and upturn our lives, or it's an overrated tool - a hack that produces lackluster results and can’t replicate human-generated content. As with most things, we think the truth of the matter lies somewhere in the middle. 

But we’re still curious:

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AI For Content đź“š

It’s almost too easy to use AI for content. You can ask it to write anything - literally anything - and it can produce fairly coherent, typo-free copy in seconds. Gone are the days of staring at the blank page, waiting for inspiration to hit. 

But how good IS this copy? And is it okay to use it to create materials you intend to distribute? What about using it for editorial opportunities?

It’s a tricky situation. In our experience, at least in its current form, AI-generated content is still somewhat easy for real humans to detect, especially in un-edited form. We haven’t seen any articles written entirely by AI that we feel rival the content that human writers can develop. It’s still tough to get the tone and emotion right. 

If you’re using AI to write materials that will live on your own website (blog posts and otherwise), then it seems like a harmless way to generate new content, especially if you’re working with a small marketing team and have limited resources. 

But for editorial purposes? We can’t sign off on that yet. Merriam-Webster designated “authentic” as the word of the year, and this feels decidedly un-authentic. If someone accepts a thought leadership piece and the draft returns entirely written by a computer, what element of that demonstrates leadership? If you aren’t adding anything from your own expertise to the piece, why even write it? All executives are busy. We fully recognize it’s hard to take the time to write an article, and ChatGPT provides a compelling solution. But is it the right solution?

Most executives don’t write their own pieces anyway. 

True! Even if you’re using a ghostwriter to compose a piece, at least there is a conversation that went into its development. There is an exchange of information from one person to another. Genuine thought is put into the audience, the outlet, and the message. There is some human element that makes reading articles interesting. 

If everything is written by a computer, will anyone want to read it? 

We think ChatGPT can be useful for outlines, expanding ideas, or getting some words on paper. But we’re seeing a major uptick in executives trying to pass off AI-generated content as their own. And we think the editors are recognizing it, too. 

The Editorial Landscape 

If you’re planning on submitting bylined articles or thought leadership content to the media and you are utilizing AI, be prepared to disclose. Most editors use plagiarism AND AI scanners, and while there is some debate on the effectiveness of these tools, it’s never a great look to get called out. It could harm your future relationship with the publication or lead to you being blacklisted as a contributor. 

We have yet to find a publication that’s openly okay with using AI-generated content, although many appear to be doing it behind the scenes, which is a whole other topic. 

This isn’t a one-time conversation, and given the rapid rate at which the AI landscape is changing and growing, everything could shift by next week. But we think it’s important to continue to talk and think about these topics as they impact the way we do our jobs. 

What do you think about AI’s role in PR? Hit us up and let us know.

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