Can AI Write a Press Release?
The short answer is yes. An AI can write a press release, and do much more besides that for a person short on time or under deadline, who doesn’t have any expertise they can lean into. Whilst it can do this, the challenge is how good is a press release written by an AI. The second part is it worth the time saved, over the traditional way of writing it yourself.The challenge that can trip people up, is those with very little experience writing press releases, will you be able to tell a good press release from a mediocre or bad release produced by an AI.
The Advantages of Using AI
An AI can be a valuable tool for those starting with a blank page and struggling to know where to begin. If you have no one on the team who knows how to write a press release, using AI can seem like a great way to help get started. It can give a good idea of a suggested structure to the release and potentially save extra work, if you had to look up different press releases styles and formats.
What To Do After the First Draft
With AI, as with any content it produces, is not to take the first output as something you can run with, especially when it comes to a press release. There is still work to be done, to check for the tone and language, facts it presents, and things it has got completely wrong about your brand. As we shall see,after trying to create releases with AI, many people realise that it can be more of a hindrance than a help.
Machine Style Language
You will need to review the release for using phrases and styles that make it obvious that it has been produced by an AI. With more than a year of AI produced content, people and the media are far more aware of the tell-tale signs that something has been machine generated. It tends to use language that just has a unique AI flavour and quickly grates with the reader.
Fact Checking
Frequently the AI writes things in a way that sounds convincing, but it is a complete invention. This may creep into your press release, as the AI will frustratingly sometimes add information about your brand, project or features. This is one of the biggest issues with AI, and raises questions about it being reliable and trustworthy, especially with the first draft as well as any subsequent drafts you ask it to review. Hopefully as you know the product or idea better than the AI, you will be able to spot these inventions or exaggerations.
Copying Content from Other Brands
One area that is far harder to look for, is that of plagiarism. How will you know if the AI has copied things from other rival brands or product launches? This is harder to spot without you having seen the original releases, or articles it has copied parts from. Again as well as fact checking, make sure there are not sections, that it is not a like- for-like copy from another piece or article. There is nothing worse than a release containing a rival's product language or features, and the reputational damage from this being shared with the media.
Using AI Creates More Work
As a PR and communications consultant, it may seem like we are talking AI down, because we want to sell our services. The truth is that we have tried using AI ourselves, and whilst it may help to spit something out relatively quickly, the real work begins with undoing all the things that are wrong, and to make sure it reads like something written by a human.
Privacy
The biggest issue that is overlooked is that often the information contained within a release is under embargo and not been made public. If you input and give any of this information to the AI, depending on the level of privacy with the AI platform that you are using, that information is now in their system, and could be accessed by others. This is far bigger for using AI for smaller companies that don't have their own proprietary system, running the risk of leaks, and sabotaging your big announcement. You may also need to check with the legal team about any issues from using an AI for this very issue.
Redrafts
If you choose to keep using the AI and ask it to review your edits, be very clear in your prompt about what you want it to focus on. However, you'll still need to carefully check any revisions to ensure nothing factually incorrect, plagiarised, or written in an unnatural, AI-generated style has reappeared in the release.
Rethink How to Use AI
Asking AI to create press releases, creates more stress, and wastes valuable time, where you would have been better to write out a release from scratch, Whilst it makes sense if you have little to no experience, there is a better way, if you choose not to get an expert to help you write the release. That is to ask in the prompt for it to provide bullet points for the structure for the release. From this, you can then write out the release, and avoid all the pitfalls outlined. Certainly you can ask the AI to come up with an example release, from these bullets, and then use this example release only as a reference.
The Risks Outweigh the Benefits
In conclusion, while AI can be a tempting shortcut, especially for solopreneurs or smaller teams, the potential risks outweigh the perceived benefits for those without experience writing press releases. The reputational damage from an inaccurate or poorly written release can be significant. If you do decide to use AI, remember it's a tool, not a replacement for human expertise. Always thoroughly scrutinise the content within the release, and ideally involve a communications professional with press release writing experience in the final review.
