Amalgamation of the Role of Humans and Artificial Intelligence in Public Relations Practice

This paper examines the respective roles humans, Artificial Intelligence (AI) as well as their challenges, opportunities and trends in the field of Public Relations (PR). Previous researches revealed that while the adoption of AI in marketing and advertisement has been widely discussed in academics, the area of Public Relations is still not sufficiently covered. Existing studies on PR seems narrowed, particularly, to the question of topic creation and as to whether text-based AI systems are capable of writing a press release or official speech. While relying on both primary and secondary data however, this paper delved into these aspects to uncover the use of AI in other areas like crisis communication, online Public Relations, Media Relations, Community Relations etc. Findings reveal that AI is critical in the identification of trends that can be used in the creation of brand contents, monitoring media and social networks and evaluating sentiments, predicting potential crisis areas, defining data-driven practices for influencers and brand ambassadors, designing press releases, social media posts and other content. It was equally revealed that while modern Public Relations today is all about reputation, where humans play a pivotal role, since brand authenticity and credibility, which no AI tool can build is essential in the field.