THE PR SHOP

WITH DAVE BULLARD

I’M ON THE FENCE ABOUT AI. HERE’S WHY.

This year, you’re going to read thousands of words about artificial intelligence and, possibly without knowing it, thousands more words written by AI. Most of them will tell you how AI is going to improve the job of public relations and marketing. Me? I’m not so sure. Not yet, anyway.

Multi-billion dollar corporations and multi-million dollar agencies are already using artificial intelligence and singing its praises. They’re using it to draft press releases, write and schedule social media posts, monitor for trouble online and more. The free and low-cost versions of their enterprise-level AI tools are filtering down the levels to all of us. Some of us are already making use of them.

In the most recent PR & Marketing Affinity Group chat (What? Never heard of this great, free benefit? Go here, sign up and join our party!), one member noted that they’re using AI to write alt tags for photos and it’s saving them time. Others are testing their use for first draft writing and auto-response bots. There’s some skepticism but it seems most hope that this new tool will help our small or solo marketing shops do more, do it faster or with less expense.

It may do all these things and more, but right now, there’s good reason to be cautious.

The Washington Post tested Amazon.com’s new chatbot, called Rufus (Jeff Bezos owns both Amazon and the Post, interestingly) and found “the chatbot wasn’t a disaster. But I also found it mostly useless,” no better than a regular search query. The Post also tested chatbots for tax preparation software makers TurboTax and H&R Block and offered this advice: “Rely on either AI for even lightly challenging tax questions, and you could end up confused. Or maybe even audited.” “Using AI to spot edible mushrooms could kill you,” said a Post headline.

Pick a reputable publication and you can find articles just like these.

It’s early days for AI and issues like these are normal, at least in these days when products are rolled out before they’re fully developed and tested. They depend on us to be the test community, unpaid and to be rewarded with a mature product that raises its prices beyond what many of us can pay. AI will do some fine things in time. But I think you should be very skeptical of claims that it will change everything for the better.

Why am I skeptical? It’s possible my skepticism is rooted in my age. I grew up watching 3 channels of glorious black-and-white TV. Fine, but I’ve always loved technology and jumped into it as early as I could. I had one of the first handheld calculators, edited linear video using the late, great Video Toaster on a computer running Amiga OS, and founded one of the nation’s first

online-only local news publications when the online audience was still (unfortunately) small.

I’m no Luddite.

Two things make me skeptical. First, I worry about the skill set needed to embrace AI writing in full. Yes, pumping a well-formed query into an AI can turn out a first draft of a press release, but now, instead of needing the ability to write an article, you need three other skills – you need to be able to write a proper query, you need to become an expert fact-checker, and you need to become a great editor.

Writing an effective query is a pretty technical skill, filled with trial and error. Fact-checking is a vastly underrated skill. When you turn the job of writing over to a machine, you can’t trust a thing it has written until you verify all of it. Fact-checking isn’t easy and it isn’t quick. As for editing copy written by someone or something else, it’s a high-level skill that requires every tool in the writing toolbox. None of this seems to me to be a time-saving thing, at least for the longer and more complex pieces.

Second, the word “artisan” keeps rolling around in my head as I think about AI. Our festivals and events are not like mass-produced consumer products. We create unique events for unique sets of consumers and sponsors. We create artisanal festivals and events. They are by definition, creative endeavors. Machines, no matter how good they are, aren’t creative in any way. Creativity is a human trait.

Writing is also artisanal. No machine, no matter how well stocked with words from the past, can write in a creative way. Imagine your best writing with all of the soul, spark and life taken out of it. Despite the biggest claims of the AI champions, AI will never write anything better than you can. (Alternate take: If AI can write better than you can, hire a good human writer and see the difference.)

My bottom line: Play with AI if you want and wait for its best uses to emerge. In the meantime, when it comes to telling your festival’s story, trust the best machine for the job: You.

Dave Bullard, CFEE is owner of FanFirst Events and Influence, consulting on production, public relations and marketing for events and festivals. He served for 10 years as PR and Marketing Manager of the Great New York State Fair, directing a $1 million marketing budget for the 1.3 million-attendance festival. Dave is available anytime to IFEA members to kick around ideas and brainstorm solutions. He also moderates the IFEA PR & Marketing Affinity Group. He’s at debullard@gmail.com and 315-575-6320.