The effectiveness of top AI tools in public relations tested

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance, businesses are increasingly seeking the most effective tools to enhance their operations. In a recent exploration by PR Daily, four prominent AI tools—OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Copilot, Google’s Gemini, and Anthropic’s Claude—were rigorously tested to evaluate their capabilities in tasks relevant to public relations professionals.

This assessment took place over several rounds, each focusing on a different type of request often encountered in the PR landscape. The scenarios included writing a press release, brainstorming story ideas, generating lists of journalists for outreach, and analyzing top news stories from the past year.

In the first challenge, the bots were tasked with composing a press release announcing the appointment of Allison Carter as editor-in-chief at PR Daily. Copilot emerged as the most effective tool, delivering a well-structured press release that required minimal editing. It included useful features such as a prompt for high-resolution photos and contact information, although it did have minor errors, such as incorrectly quoting a past CEO and misidentifying Twitter. Conversely, Gemini struggled substantially, initially claiming insufficient information before producing an unrelated, incorrect press release that did not meet the requirements. Both ChatGPT and Claude managed to produce press releases that adhered to standard expectations but were marred by inaccuracies and embellishments.

The second round evaluated each tool’s ability to generate interesting story ideas related to AI for PR professionals. The results were largely underwhelming, with none of the tools providing truly innovative or engaging ideas. Copilot received particular criticism for suggesting exceedingly basic topics, while Claude and Copilot failed to identify specific human sources to accompany their ideas.

When tasked with identifying journalists for pitching stories about AI, ChatGPT excelled, delivering a robust list of relevant journalists complete with the correct publications and email addresses. Gemini also provided a solid list, though it contained one notable inaccuracy, while Claude’s output ultimately proved unreliable upon verification, listing incorrect affiliations for several journalists. Copilot fell short by suggesting generic advice rather than specific names, underscoring a lack of specificity in its responses.

For the final round, the bots were provided with a list of the top news stories from 2023, an analysis from which they were meant to derive common themes and implications for PR practitioners. Claude produced the most insightful output, drawing relevant connections from the data, while Copilot’s response included significant inaccuracies that undermined its analysis. Meanwhile, Gemini’s response seemed to exaggerate its conclusions, and ChatGPT’s takeaways were more generic than data-driven.

Overall, PR Daily’s examination illustrates the current state of AI tools in business applications—while they each showcased strengths in various areas, none proved to be flawless. The assessment highlighted a landscape still characterised by errors, lack of true understanding, and the necessity for human oversight to ensure quality output. The conclusion drawn from the evaluation suggests that while ChatGPT demonstrated particular utility in sourcing potential contacts, and Claude excelled at data interpretation, each tool serves a distinct purpose, necessitating ongoing experimentation to identify the best fit for specific business needs in the evolving digital environment.

As AI technologies advance, the continuous refinement of these tools may yield even more powerful applications in the realm of public relations and beyond. All observers and users of these technologies are encouraged to remain engaged in assessing their utility and adapting their use accordingly.

Source: Noah Wire Services