How Can Agencies Maximize the Value of AI Tools?

With adoption of AI gathering pace, the conversation needs to move from reducing headcount to ensuring employees have what it takes to use the technology effectively and safely from day one of their careers. 

Most PR agencies have been quick off the mark integrating AI into their operations. According to Cision’s latest figures, 91% of professionals report using generative AI as part of their workflow, with 73% applying it to idea generation and 68% using it for writing and content refinement. The research shows that AI is also being used in data gathering and analysis, with 40% using AI-driven media monitoring and nearly a third relying on AI-powered reporting tools.

Are PR professionals asking the right questions concerning AI?

But if the use of AI in PR is evolving fast, the discourse around the technology is often not keeping pace. 

All too often, the conversation focuses on replacement: the use of the technology to drive efficiency and reduce headcount. That’s an entirely wrong framing for the debate. 

The real question that PR leaders should be asking right now is what will the floor look like when a first-year Account Coordinator has access to the same powerful research, writing, and auditing tools as a VP. 

That is exactly what AI has achieved. Any AC starting out today now has access to enterprise-grade research and writing tools. That promises to shift the dial on productivity, giving even the most junior employees the fluency, speed, data analysis capability of a seasoned PR practitioner. 

But tech alone won’t make the difference agencies are looking for. 

How should AI tools be deployed in PR?

What’s also required is human judgement and consideration. That’s the only way for PR teams to avoid rolling out generic tools that their people cannot use effectively or safely. 

That’s why here at SourceCode Communications we’ve been very intentional about how we roll out AI. 

We’ve built our stack around our own rigorous standards as applied to our voice, brand, research methods, and audit methods. These tools are highly tailored to the SourceCode DNA and everything about us that our clients love. They reflect our values and standards and have our operational best practices running through them. As a result, the AI output starts where our senior people would start. 

“…the AI output starts where our senior people would start.”

Kevin Dulaney

They have also been designed to consider both the EU AI Act transparency obligations as well as the PR Council’s guidelines on the principled application of AI. As every Spider-Man fan knows, with great power comes great responsibility, so we want to make sure that when our people use AI tools they do so with the right guardrails in place and a solid understanding of ethics and compliance considerations.

That’s also why SourceCode’s AI playbook focuses heavily on training and upskilling. The floor can only truly be raised if people know both how to get the most value out of AI systems, and to do so in a way that keeps us on the right side of compliance obligations and ethics norms. 

Any old AI program can make existing employees faster. What we’ve built is a platform that changes and improves what our newest people can achieve from day one and helps them grow from there. 

Get in touch to learn more about how we’re applying AI every day to drive value for your clients.