Public relations is evolving—and fast. While strong strategy and great storytelling will always be at the core, the way we build relationships, develop pitches, and showcase results is being reshaped by technology.
Services like ChatGPT and Claude have made it easier than ever to analyze, research, brainstorm and even edit written content. While many are concerned about how these AI models could replace the work they do, public relations firms are focused on how we can make them work for us.
Here are some of the ways the O’Connell & Goldberg team is using AI tools to deliver results for our clients.
Expanding Creative Capacity
PR professionals know that clients like to have options, but sometimes schedules and workloads make it difficult to get everyone together for a brainstorming session. In these instances, AI can help expand a professional’s creative capacity. While a human might need hours to generate ten potential taglines, AI can do it in less than a minute.
Chatbots
“I treat ChatGPT like a supercharged brainstorming buddy,” says O&G Account Director Sarah Caro. “Whether I’m unhappy with an article headline, need to fine-tune a pitch or want to bounce around campaign strategy ideas, it helps me organize my thoughts and get ideas on the page. It’s like having a coworker that always knows what I’m working on, and who never rolls their eyes when I ask for five more subject line options…which I do regularly.”
Optimizing Media Pitches
When pitching a client’s story, PR professionals can spend days agonizing over the wording of an email or press release. Even more care needs to be put in to ensure the end result conforms with the client’s existing branding and style guide. An AI chatbot is able to do the bulk of that work in a matter of minutes, but only if it has been properly “primed” by a professional.
“Before I even enter a prompt, I prime Chat,” says O&G Vice President Lesli Cartaya Franco. “I give it brand guidelines, previous releases and editorial, profiles of representatives, tone, messaging and our strategic goals for the client.”
After priming the program with existing content, AI chatbots can be trained to follow up with clarifying questions (length, voice, target audience, etc.) and comb the internet to compare the final product to pre-existing content.
Qwoted
Beyond chatbots, AI is changing how we connect with reporters. Qwoted, another O&G favorite, uses AI to match our clients with reporters actively working on stories, while also surfacing relevant media opportunities we may not have seen otherwise. It gives us instant access to timely journalist requests, helps us track industry trends and even suggests similar reporters covering the same topic—making outreach more targeted and effective.
Enhancing Media and Audience Tracking
One of AI’s greatest strengths is its ability to consume, analyze, and summarize large quantities of information at once. When clients expect to know everything being said about them at all times, this almost omniscient attention span is like a third arm for PR teams.
Coveragebook
CoverageBook, a favorite tool of the O&G team, automatically pulls media mentions—from print and digital articles to TV segments—and packages them into sleek, visual reports. It quantifies reach and engagement, helping us show the full impact of our work without relying on spreadsheets or manual tracking.
A Renewed Focus on Ethics
While AI has expanded the capabilities of PR professionals, it has also opened up new ethical concerns. Just as the use of AI-powered image generators risks generating plagiarized visuals, the use of AI language models may risk plagiarizing other written works. Additionally, the widespread availability makes it easier than ever for misinformation to proliferate.
How we tackle these concerns is what separates a good firm from a great firm. At O’Connell & Goldberg, our team is dedicated to ensuring AI remains a tool, not a replacement. Our clients see the difference, and we know their customers do as well.