In the past year, artificial intelligence has moved from theory to practice, impacting nearly every industry, and communications is no exception. At JSA+Partners, we’ve embraced AI as a powerful tool to enhance our ability to serve clients, while remaining mindful of its challenges and limitations. The question is: how do we use AI to complement our human expertise?
Our approach to AI is simple: we use it to enhance creativity, not replace it. While AI helps streamline workflows, such as generating content drafts or offering new ideas, it’s important to note that we don’t rely on it for the heart of our work—developing authentic, impactful communication strategies. Instead, we might use AI when we’re unsure where to begin or need inspiration, leveraging its capabilities to brainstorm, outline, and refine ideas, always ensuring that the final product is tailored to the unique needs of our clients.
AI for Automating Mundane Tasks
One of AI’s most immediate impacts on our workflow is managing the smaller, everyday tasks that can be surprisingly time-consuming. Whether it’s formatting documents, organizing large datasets, or assembling media reports, these tasks are essential but don’t require human creativity. AI tools can instantly standardize formatting across client presentations, apply templates to press releases, or gather media coverage in a digestible format. By handing off these more mechanical tasks to AI, we ensure accuracy and consistency across all client-facing materials.
This time-saving function frees our team to focus on more complex and creative tasks, such as developing campaign strategies, crafting compelling stories, and nurturing media relationships. Ultimately, AI is helping us strike the perfect balance between efficiency and ingenuity, allowing us to deliver better results in less time.
Optimizing Targets
Reaching an audience through earned media can often be time-consuming, with constant research and updates needed to identify relevant outlets and reporters. AI can simplify this by speeding up research and offering personalized recommendations that enhance human efforts. Instead of relying solely on search engines, AI can dive deeper into a reporter’s background, analyzing the tone and focus of their past coverage to build more accurate media lists.
Enhancing Copywriting and Editing
One of AI’s strengths lies in its ability to analyze and generate text in a way that’s clear and easy to understand. Language models like Gemini and ChatGPT, trained on vast datasets, can quickly produce content in a human-like tone. Even though AI won’t fully replace skilled writers, it can be a helpful assistant, generating alternative phrases or serving as an efficient first-pass editor to refine grammar and remove redundancies.
To make the most of AI tools, learning to master the input process is critical. Simple prompts yield basic responses, but providing detailed instructions can significantly improve the quality of the output. Over time, these models can even be trained to mimic a brand or individual’s unique voice, making AI a valuable tool for writers who know how to use it effectively.
As artificial intelligence becomes more integrated into public relations, it is clear that its role is to enhance, not replace, human expertise. At JSA+Partners, we see AI as a tool to increase efficiency and free up valuable time for the more strategic, creative elements of our work. From automating routine tasks to optimizing media targeting and refining copy, AI has become a key asset in our toolkit. However, the heart of our efforts—building authentic, impactful communication strategies—remains firmly in the hands of our experienced team. By blending AI’s capabilities with human creativity, we’re able to deliver even more thoughtful and effective solutions to our clients.
Jennifer Stephens Acree is the CEO and founder of JSA+Partners, where she works with select Fortune 500 and start-up clients to develop communications programs based on clear business objectives in order to get results. Acree has over 20 years of experience in corporate, agency, and government environments while working with BtoB and BtoC category leaders in the areas of digital technology, media and entertainment. She is a member of the USC Center for PR board of advisers.