The press release is something of a compromise. Too stilted and journalists don't touch them. Too informal and they lose all their credibility. And then you bring AI into the equation, and press release writers are trying to use all this powerful tech without creating content that obviously sounds like AI because… that's what it is. The question many professionals ask is: can you write a press release with AI that sounds human? On the upside, however, AI can really assist you with crafting a strong press release - provided you know how to use it right.
AI Writing Platforms for Human-Like Press Releases
There are a number of services which are beginning to show real potential for AI press release writing:
- ChatGPT (OpenAI) is probably the most useful general-purpose press release drafting tool. You can give it a lot of detail regarding your company history, tone of voice and target audience, and it'll generate a good structural skeleton very quickly. You can refine what the AI writes through interaction, till the result satisfies you.
- Jasper AI was developed as a marketing and communication-focused AI writer and has ready-made press release formats that allows to customize your brand voice to make your messaging consistent across various press releases.
- Copy.ai excels in crafting short, high-impact PR material and can produce many different versions of an announcement - great when you are testing and targeting different journalists on the same message.
- Writer.ai works well for PR agencies managing larger operations because it enables you to save your specific style guide, so you train the AI to match your specific writing style over time.
While all of these services are excellent, they don't exactly spit out fully formatted and final versions of a press release for immediate distribution. And here's the reason why…
Editing Makes AI Press Releases Sound Human
When it comes to an AI generated press release, that first copy generated should be thought of merely as a jumping-off point. Often, press releases generated by AI are grammatically correct, but a bit lifeless; they usually maintain very much the same pace in the sentence, utilize common, unremarkable terms and, whereas the logic flows well, lack the sense of personality that make people engaged with it. Editing AI drafts will make for a far better release. These aspects particularly need to be concentrated on - Voice consistency, emotional punch, real quoted material, specific details, as well as compelling opening line. Good editing separates the mundane from the captivating. In many ways, the editing process is where a skilled PR professional's talents shine and where human-like AI content truly emerges.
How to Make Your AI Written Releases Sound Human
There are also a range of techniques you can apply to make AI-produced material sound less robotically and more genuinely human when creating human-like AI content.
- Improved AI Input: Enhance what you tell the AI in the beginning. Giving a specific target market, intended emotional effect, what your main messages are going to be and your preferred tone is vital - be explicit about which tone you want such as casual, more informal or a professional one.
- Varied Sentence Length: AI has a tendency to keep sentence size relatively uniform; by shortening some sentences, then following with a longer one, you get better pacing, giving a more organic sense to what's written.
- Show the human angle: A new hire is more than just their cv; it is an indication of the current state of your company, who may contribute and the influence they may bring- so tell us how your newhire connects to current events or projects to really sell who your hire is.
- Read Aloud: If it feels awkward when reading aloud then it should be rephrased until it flows as expected; reading should feel natural.
- Eliminate hedge stacking: Removing phrases like "might perhaps imply", "potentially", or "could possibly" will convey far more confidence.
Where AI Has Made it Possible to Write and Distribute A Press Release in a Realistic Manner
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The Associated Press It started utilizing AI for automatically generating its earnings press release a little back in 2014. They understood that they could use a computer to help publish certain press release that had lots of facts and had to be produced quickly.
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The Mid-Sized Tech Company It is one of the top companies which developed and published a product press release utilizing AI. This type of company observed that they saved roughly 60% of the primary draft time but the editing period remained mostly the same - two to three hours. This shows that AI is excellent at quickly composing a first draft for distribution and publishing time was cut short, while no time was spared on editing which ensured high quality output.
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The nonprofit An organization recently used the powerful artificial writing tool to assist them in localized a national release to all 12 different local markets at once - an activity that could potentially require months by a much smaller team. Using AI to adjust the foundational structure with localized inputs ensures that the message is tailored to every local audience while maintaining consistency and efficiency throughout.
The Future of AI Press Release Writing
We understand that press releases will not be abandoned, at least not in the near future. Nevertheless, their kind and format definitely has the ability to adapt and change.
Let the machine handle the basic (and boring) work - like issuing press releases for quarterly results, personnel updates, and upcoming events - while human PR experts are liberated to focus on mission-critical communication that requires true strategic skill and Emotional Intelligence (EI). That's probably as it should be. Your personalized communications efforts will step up Your Press Release Workflow: 3 Tips to Improve with the help of AI When instead of issuing one press release to every person in your contact list, AI will make it possible and practical to send a press release perfectly personalized to each journalist - even down to their reporting specialty, previous coverage and reader demographics.
Personalised PR messaging - targeting your communications efforts on an individual journalist basis - has long been considered best PR practice; AI will help you take that on an individual scale. Authenticity will grow in value The more prevalent AI-generated content becomes, the more our instincts - as both the general public and as journalists - will sharpen toward identifying something that feels artificial. Communications that lean into authentic voices, with specific human insights and meaningful details will rise to the top as all others fade.
Keep The Following In Mind
PR Professionals (Even with the Most Advanced Tools) will always want to check their facts (AI can provide faulty ones confidently!) do not outsource their judgement (your brand, your reputation) develop and maintain a style guide (train your AI for consistency) protect confidential information (use this for the right type of inputs only) build AI into your workflow (as opposed to working around it!)
Conclusion
AI is going to be a fantastic tool for every PR professional going forward, but it is going to be exactly that: A tool and not a replacement.
It is only going to assist your process and make press releases all the better. The "best performing" press release will still be one, which seamlessly blends AI powered communication efficiency with the personal, human touch of human skill. It is only going to get better, though; I am sure of it. Readers will be looking for authenticity and so will you as a PR pro.
Those who make the cut in this future PR industry will be those that leverage AI intelligently and at just the right time and places.