AI in PR: Balancing Efficiency, Quality, and Responsibility

Ahead of pr suisse’s first roundtable on «The Productive Use of AI in PR» on June 17, three industry experts shared their views on opportunities, risks, and responsibility. In this interview, Stephanie Peeters (Corporate Affairs and Communications Manager, JTI), Daniel Jörg (Partner & Chief Strategy Officer, Farner International | Team Farner), and Markus Niederhäuser (Head of Continuing Education at IAM, ZHAW) discuss AI in PR—objectively, incisively, and from different perspectives.

When you look at the current use of AI in PR, what concerns you most personally? Where do you see the opportunities and the risks?
SP: AI is a partner that can take the burden off routine tasks, thereby freeing up time for what PR is really all about: context, relationship-building, and genuine listening. Yet PR is and remains a deeply human discipline. Empathy, sensitivity to nuances, and an understanding of complex stakeholder interests cannot be automated. Problems arise when the thoughtless use of AI leads to interchangeability.

DJ: The question that concerns me most is: How do we combine AI with the expertise and experience of our people? Every day, we see senior consultants make enormous strides as soon as they provide AI with relevant context and challenging problems. At the same time, we see that inexperienced consultants often get stuck with AI on the „most obvious“ solution—and that’s poison for our business.
The challenge, therefore, is not a question of tools, but a question of culture: As a consulting firm, how do we establish and celebrate a shared ambition—a shared culture of critical and creative thinking—across all levels of seniority? That is precisely where the great opportunity lies—experience meets the engine room, combining speed and depth in one. And that is also where the greatest risk lies if we fail to pull it off: AI as a crutch for mediocrity—good enough not to stand out, bad enough not to make a difference.

MN: What concerns me most is the speed at which AI is currently and dramatically changing communication practices. This has the potential to overwhelm both communication professionals and organizations. In addition to the well-known legal (e.g., data protection) and ethical (e.g., stereotyping) issues, I see a particular risk that AI will be used as a pretext to cut back on communication resources. The opportunities presented by the use of AI are just as diverse: Efficiency gains through AI-supported automation processes create room to focus more on strategy, consulting, and relationship management. While AI can enhance creativity and quality, this is not a given.

What does quality in PR mean to you, especially in the age of AI?
SP: Quality arises when people contribute their own ideas. AI can provide support, but quality in PR thrives on critical thinking, experience, and the ability to connect different perspectives. This makes skills such as sound judgment and reflection all the more important.

DJ: The biggest challenge for most communicators today isn’t generating more content—it’s standing out in a relevant way. Achieving exactly that—cleverly and precisely, with AI as the engine—is what quality means in the age of AI. It’s no longer about output, but about greater relevance per unit of attention.

MN: AI does not fundamentally change the quality standards for communication. PR should continue to have a clear strategic focus, produce relevant content, communicate credibly and responsibly, and make a measurable contribution to value creation. To ensure this, people are still needed. Quality does not result from increased efficiency, but rather from the people who initiate, oversee, and monitor communication processes. In light of looming threats such as fake news, transparency is becoming perhaps the most important indicator of quality.

What question should the PR industry now discuss collectively regarding the productive and responsible use of AI?
SP: How can we avoid being tempted to forget the human aspects of PR just because it's convenient to use AI?

DJ: How do we train the next generation? PR consultants with expertise can use AI to produce high-quality results in a short amount of time. Consultants who lack this experience are quickly tempted to accept AI’s „most obvious“ result.
The industry must therefore come together to discuss how we can train young talent in this new world—and quickly instill in them critical thinking, genuine ambition, and a sense of context and quality as a way of life. For me, this is the central question of responsibility that we as an industry must address. Not because AI is dangerous, but because otherwise we run the risk of losing a generation of consultants before they’ve even had a chance to develop their own voice and judgment.

MN: How will we shape the interaction between humans and machines in the future? Communications professionals will increasingly work with AI agents rather than with teammates. This calls for clear PR guidelines and organizational governance, as well as new skills among employees. PR associations, training institutions, and the companies themselves must support PR professionals in meeting these diverse challenges.

Here Click here to register for the roundtable.