More vs. Better: Artificial Intelligence

In a new article, Artificial Intelligence, Apple and More vs. Better for CoCreations and CommPRO, I make the case that when it comes to adopting artificial intelligence in communications, more is not better. In fact, using AI to simply generate more content is an existential risk to the industry.          

I argue we shouldn’t adopt AI unconditionally, nor should we be Luddites trying to stop progress in its tracks.  What we need to do is to look at AI through the lens of using it to be better communicators.    

When it comes to content more is not a “better” strategy. “The siren sound of more press releases, social media posts or articles is a call onto the rocks. Like Homer’s Odysseus we may need to be strapped to the mast and held back from temptation.”

The point is more, not better, content comes with the risk that what matters gets lost and audiences stop paying attention. This applies to engaging with journalists, as well as digital content in general.

And, while AI can be misused, it has the potential to do things better. As an example, I highlight its use by the head of sales at a hospitality company to be more responsive to sales leads. I note the benefits of writing and editing tools to make pitches stronger and presentations better. But we still need to know, and make choices around, what better actually looks like.    

AI-driven tools in the PR industry provide a path to more quickly, efficiently, and effectively complete tasks that would once have taken hours or days. Researchscape’s AI tools, built into their research survey technology, will produce data reports, presentations, and findings following the completion of a fielded survey. This is what better looks like.  

Framing conversations around better versus more provides a way to think about AI and purposefully make choices about how we use the technology to be better communicators.

Simon Erskine Locke is founder & CEO of communications agency and professional search and services platform, CommunicationsMatch™, a CommPRO partner. He is vice president of the Foreign Press Association, agency founder, and has held head of communications roles at Morgan Stanley, Prudential Financial, and Deutsche Bank. CommunicationsMatch’ s technology helps clients search, shortlist, and hire agencies and professionals by industry and communications expertise, location, size, diversity, and designations. CommunicationsMatch developed the industry’s first integrated agency search and RFP tools, Agency Select™, with RFP Associates. CommunicationsMatch™ powers PRSA’s Find a Firm agency search tools.