232: Breaking Down the Pros and Cons of Using AI to Write Your Press Release

Want to get a lot of PRs to nerd out about a topic? Ask them about using ChatGPT to write a press release. Welcome to the Indestructible PR Podcast, where we use current events and tested media and PR strategies to help prevent or manage a crisis and build an indestructible reputation. In this episode discussing the pros and cons of using AI to write your next press A few weeks ago I posted a question to Twitter, also known as this deserted social media platform. No one really goes there anymore. It's dead. Ever since I stopped paying for Twitter Blue, I tested it out for six weeks. Twitter seems to be a little ho hum for me. Except the time I posted a question about using artificial intelligence to write a press release. I happened to be on Reddit that morning and I don't normally go onto Reddit in the morning because that could bring me way deep down a rabbit hole. But I came across a post asking about the benefits of using artificial intelligence. Someone was asking what are the benefits of using it and is it a problem if I use it to write a press release? Well, it started this chatter on Reddit and I thought, hmm, this is a perfect question for Twitter. So I headed on over to Twitter and I posted it at 8:21am on March 2. It has, let me see, accumulated almost 19,000 views. Based on this question came across a polarizing Reddit discussion about using AI to write press releases. Some argue it's efficient and cost effective, while others worry about the ethics and lack of human touch. What do we think? AI is a red X for my media class. PR's thoughts that tweet, which I did not indicate was written by artificial intelligence. I mean, I started the writing, but then I let. I let artificial intelligence do the rest. I let it polish it up a bit. I didn't happen to mention that. What do you think of those ethics using artificial intelligence to write a tweet asking about about the ethics of using artificial intelligence. I like it. I don't have a problem with it, but I received a lot of responses and a lot of retweets, which is great. Yeah, I always love the compounding engagement on social media posts. But before I dive into what the replies were, let's just look at some of the pros and cons. Because as AI continues to advance and become more accessible, the question of whether to use it to write press releases is becoming more relevant. I saw it on Reddit. After all, on one hand, AI powered tools can save time and streamline the process of creating press releases. But on the other hand, there are concerns about the quality and authenticity of AI generated content. And when you have an industry that is rooted in truth and fact, pr, public relations, journalism, we need the facts. And those facts follow ethical guidelines. So what do we think about this squishy area? When it's a press release release? When it is a document generated to secure press or to earn media coverage. So in this episodes, let's explore both sides of the argument to help you decide whether AI is the right choice for you when you write your press releases. First, let's consider some of the benefits of using AI for writing press releases. 1. Artificial intelligence and when I say artificial intelligence, yes, there's ChatGPT, and I did an earlier episode about ChatGPT, which I'll link in the show notes. But there are other programs now and platforms that are using AI. AI is rapidly being onboarded on all of these platforms, so you almost can't get away from using it. One of the benefits to it is that it can quickly analyze data, it can identify trends and patterns, and it can generate content based around your research. Now, I'll be honest. In my media class the other night, I talk about ChatGPT, and as a matter of fact, I had to give a little bit of a lecture in my media class about using it because I'm starting to suspect, highly suspect, that some Students are using ChatGPT because one week's assignment I'm redlining that thing all over the place, and then the next week it's flawless and it's written completely differently. So we talk about the ethics behind using a press release. But one of the reasons that it is good, one of the benefits is for research, because the idea behind it, the mechanics behind it, if you will, is it scrubs the Internet looking for the information that you've asked it to secure for you. And when it goes through the Internet and it's looking through all of these articles, it's going to pull it in. Now, that is not that much different than going into a Google search bar and typing in information that you're looking for. So it does save you a lot of time when it comes to that research. Now, one of the other benefits to it as well is you can ask it to write specifically for search engines that you can optimize the writing so it can be picked up by search engines, which can increase the visibility and the reach. Also, it can format itself into a press release. If you ask it specifically write a headline, it will generate a headline for you. Write a sub headline. It will generate a sub headline for you and then take that headline and sub headline and then create a press release. It will do that for you as well. Does it sound like I've done that before? Yes, I have. I've done that. Not to write press releases, but to see if you can use ChatGPT to do that. I'm going to tell you some of the risks from using it though. Now, one of the drawbacks, one of the huge drawbacks about using AI for press release writing is big concerns over the authenticity of the content. It is not being generated by a person when you write. You need to write in a compelling, natural way to draw an audience in. To rely on technology to do that is going to probably result in a big miss. I'm going to tell you right now. If you were to ask ChatGPT or AI to write a press release for you and you take it, copy paste it and send it out, you are doing yourself a massive disservice. It's not going to have the authenticity that it needs to be a. Well, not only a good press release, but a factual press release. Many people also believe that AI generated content lacks human touch. It lacks this emotional resonance that you need to connect with readers. I can say that as an instructor, as an adjunct professor, I now can. That's why I can spot AI material, because it lacks that human touch. You can sense that it's not there. I'm starting to get a really good sense of what been generated by a human or a student doing their work at the last minute or by technology. And others are starting to worry that AI generated content is too predictable, which makes it less engaging and less interesting to read. There's almost a dryness to how the words are laid out or even the pattern behind the words. Now there's also concern for potential bias in AI generated content. Because AI relies on algorithms and data, they may perpetuate existing biases or inaccuracies in the data they're analyzing. This could lead to inaccurate or misleading information being presented in your press release because it will look at all websites but siren emoji, siren emoji, siren emoji. Sometimes it lists the website, but sometimes it doesn't. Imagine if you are writing a press release about diversity, equity and inclusion and it pulls from a press release or from another website that maybe doesn't view diversity, equity inclusion the same way that you were intending to do it in your press release. Now, should you be using it to write your press releases? Ultimately, the answer depends on you. It depends on your specific needs and your goals. If you are looking to produce a large volume of press releases quickly, efficiently, you know, then AI might be a good option for you. But if you're someone who cares about authenticity and the quality of your content, and you need to ensure that your press release accurately reflects your brand and your values, you will be better off using human writers Now I'm going to head on over to Twitter for a moment to give you some of the replies that I received. Now it's interesting the first few replies that I received, these RPR people, communicators and some I'm already familiar with where they were leaning towards yeah, it's okay, it's okay. But Twitter's no different than TikTok. The same thing happens. Commentary will be skewed a certain way because once a few people louder voices come in and denounce something, then no one wants to counter. Okay, and then there's a bias in the answer. And that's what I think happened in these replies. I do not think that I was getting a straight reply because for instance, the first person wrote about it said writing a press release is the lowest value a PR pro provides. More important are relationships with internal and external audiences, strategy, messaging and the like. Seems like bots can free pros to focus on the more important. Now I thought that that was Many people on the Reddit thread had shared that same argument that press releases are pretty low value. But when someone followed up on that and said how could you call press release low value? If you look at a press release as low value, then you are not spending enough time on your press releases. Another reply yes, employing AI possibly can result in a solid cogent news release and save money, but if it's adapted, why would a client engage in the services of a public relations professional? Also, the class is incorrect and are arguing themselves out of a future. This is a class that has no idea how much AI they already use and the potential ahead. The argument happened when Google launched, so I think she was referring to my class and she assumed that I meant When I said AI is an X for my media class, she probably read it as me saying that the students said it was an X, but what I meant is students couldn't use it. And isn't that funny? I used AI and it was confusing and she says Canva Lumen 5 all use AI. Social channel algorithms are form of AI. AP Business has been using AI for news since 2014. AI is an amazing summer intern for base content, which I Love that its worth is based on the data you give it and your understanding of how it works. That answer is probably the closest to how I feel about it as well. There are people out there that flatly denounce it and they say you cannot use it. It is wrong. They talk about the legalities of using ChatGPT, which is also a concern. And it is a concern that a lot of people should look into when it comes to ChatGPT. Not that many people are thinking about that because ChatGPT, because it is pulling from existing content. What happens if it pulls content that happens to be derivative of someone else's content or might be copyright protected? You can't use that in ChatGPT. And also that copyright law, though many people probably aren't thinking about that right now. You have no idea when that's going to come up. Another piece of it is the privacy. Now, if I happen to be using ChatGPT for a client, for instance, like I'll use it for a Facebook post for a client, you know, I'll say write a Facebook post about this just to generate ideas. But I will not type the name of the client in ChatGPT or when I'm doing AI, I just put XYZ of a company because I don't want to get into that muck and mire. One person says when you feed your Clients info into ChatGPT, they can expose both the client and you to legal action. Also, it rewrites quotes and putting together the release helps the writer organize synthesize thoughts from various teams. So no. Another reply. The fundamentals of writing should be mastered first before any tool is brought in. What if your favorite AI tool goes down? I also worry about plagiarism. We're putting trust in a program. My intuition is that will come up as an issue. All right. And then a lot more people are saying clients don't pay us to cut and paste. Pretty soon the class of workers who once were paid to create copy better brush up on their farming or coding skills. I think it's good to get the nuts and bolts out of the way and then refine with human eyes. Frees up the communications professional's time for the highest value work. I think that probably matches how I feel about it as well. I don't have a problem with AI using AI. We've been using it for a while. We're just calling it something different and it's definitely more robust. However, when it comes to any content, at least when I use it, I never put any information into ChatGPT or using any other artificial intelligent chatbot, if you will, for a client, for content and take that out and use it whole cloth. I have never done that and I never will do it. Now I do use it for research. I use it for clarity. I use it sometimes just to get a different perspective on a take on something. Sometimes I'll write it. Well, sometimes. A lot of the times I will write it for headlines. That's where I really like using it. Headlines for podcasts, headlines for a patreon. You know, whenever I'm writing those headlines or sub headlines, I like to use it for those reasons. And when I do use it, all it is is a first draft for me and then I go in and I write it in my words. But sometimes I have to tell you, you use ChatGPT, you find yourself spending more time re editing ChatGPT. If you just wrote it yourself originally in the first place, maybe you wouldn't even have that problem in the first place. So in the end, it all depends on how you feel about it. The decision should be based with careful considerations on your specific needs and goals and also within your jobs. Because yes, it can save a lot of time and effort. But if you are being paid by a client or if you are working for an organization that is paying you to do certain work, that work should be original. And if it's not original, you should be up front with where you are using it. I mean, particularly if you're writing press releases for a client and someone is paying you to do that, you cannot use ChatGPT because they could just do it. They're not paying you for automation, they're paying you for your creativity and your writing. Now, in every episode I include one indestructible PR tip. It's an easy to remember takeaway to help you build an indestructible reputation. And here it is. If you use ChatGPT on content and pass it off as original, you may be busted. And if you are, you're going to create a reputation problem. Do you remember the story of the Vanderbilt associate dean who was suspended for using ChatGPT to write a sympathy letter for the school over the mass shooting at Michigan State University? A student at Vanderbilt noticed at the bottom of that email that it said it was generated by ChatG. Of course, where did she put it on social media? And that associate dean was suspended. And then once that dean was suspended, then what showed up on the news? People start digging, they look at the name and then there's another story about how the same dean had shared a post about transforming privileged white male student while living in a $675,000 mansion. That was a news story in the tabloids, in the Daily Mail. And how do we know about it? Just because of the story with CHAT GPT, many people probably don't realize that that you can tell, particularly if you use ChatGPT, that it leaves a watermark or when you copy and paste it, it brings over the formatting and people can tell that it's ChatGPT generated content. That's all for this week. Thanks for listening. Bye for now.