Comms professionals should embrace new AI and machine learning technology, rather than fearing it will take their jobs, AMEC global MD Johna Burke argued in Cision’s latest webinar.
She looked to assuage any PR professionals who are worried by any imminent disruption by AI, stating that human critical thinking isn’t likely to be replaced by automation anytime soon.
Burke said: “AI isn’t really there yet. We’re at more of a machine learning phase of that journey. You look at companies like Facebook who are spending millions of dollars to get to the machine learning stage and I’m still horrified when it tags a picture of my mother as me!”
She was joined by Cision Insights COO Timo Thomann-Rompf, who agreed that fears over the impact of AI in earned media measurement were currently unfounded.
“Machine learning and AI are buzzwords, used everywhere, but at the moment they’re more of a ‘little helper’ to help enhance what we do rather than big, disruptive technology,” he said, adding, “we wouldn’t be very smart to create new technology which would end up replacing us!”
The pair went on to discuss examples of how new technology was aiding industry professionals, how PRs can keep up with technological advances and warned that matching PR goals to organisational objectives is still a necessity in the industry, no matter how much help new innovations provide.
You can find the full write up here