There’s no denying the fact that AI is everywhere right now. It’s having a huge impact on everything, from content to marketing, to reporting. The list goes on.
With AI-generated content popping up in our lives constantly, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for brands to differentiate. As a result, they are having to come up with progressively more creative ways to cut through the noise (or AI slop as it is affectionately dubbed).
AI can certainly help save time, but it rarely produces the most engaging content. Not only because people can usually spot it a mile off – for some, this is enough to scroll away – but because the end product is only as a good as the prompt and human intervention. How many times have you spotted an AI poster in a shop window, or an AI-generated video on a brand’s social media page? More often than not, it’s instantly recognisable.
So how can organisations stand out?
Social Media & Content Director, Adam Palmer, and Account Director, Emily Holden, gave us their take on AI-generated content and how it’s changing the industry.
What impact is AI having in your world?
EH: It’s changing the industry dramatically. Whilst it won’t remove the need for PR professionals to be writing engaging content, it is evolving the way the industry is reporting, measuring and demonstrating value. AI can help to simplify these tasks, providing better insights into results, and leaving us with more time to spend on the strategy and media relations. That personal touch is how PR pros can stand out as AI will never be able to replicate the relationships that we spend time building.
AP: I think perhaps only second to content media, AI is having the biggest impact on the world of social media. From insights to ethics, there’s lots to be considered. AI can save you time, save you money and give you more information than you thought your brain could cope with. But it does need to be tamed and maintained. It’s all in the prompts. AI is powerful, but it still needs the human brain to know what quality looks like, and what is morally right too. With a great prompt from a person who knows their area well, it can create some top-drawer stuff.
How is AI actually helping?
AP: From time efficiencies to budget control, to ideation, to insights – it can impact all of the above. It is certainly a great support, but that is where it ends. If AI is ever the leader, we have a problem.
EH: It’s certainly helping to speed up tasks that might have been historically laborious and manual. With a simple prompt, it can conduct thorough research, collate coverage highlights, evaluate sentiment and determine whether a piece of secured media content hits the brand’s key messages – it’s then up to us to package that up in a client-friendly way that showcases our value.
How can brands stand out in content in the age of AI?
EH: Using AI for ideation and getting creativity flowing is great, but it’s enhanced by the human-touch. With AI content being so obvious, I think brands can stand out by leaning away from it, or at least interpreting it so it doesn’t appear so blatant. I think I speak for everyone when I say we’re sick of seeing em-dashes and Capital Letters for Every Word.
AP: Use it wisely from insights and an efficiency perspective – but from a content side of things, use it to have fun. Think creatively on how you can get AI involved in your content strategies – just always stay the right side of ethics!
Any final thoughts?
AP: AI is here to stay; it’s just how it is all maintained. Always be the leader and let AI complement what you do. It is all in the prompts – that’s the next million-dollar job.
EH: I agree with Adam, in that it’s here to stay. It’s only in its infancy and once the guardrails are determined, it’s only going to get smarter and more acceptable. As PR professionals, we can embrace the use of it to demonstrate our value and really take our programmes to the next level.
Now, we didn’t think it would be fair to write this piece without getting AI to stick up for itself. So, we asked it what it thinks about it being everywhere, and here’s what it had to say (with the em-dashes in all its glory):
Chat: AI-generated content is everywhere because it makes publishing fast and cheap—but that abundance creates synthetic sameness: lots of “correct” material that feels interchangeable. The problem isn’t AI itself; it’s when brands use it to scale output without adding judgement, evidence, or a real point of view—leading to bland messaging, inconsistent voice, higher risk of confident inaccuracies, and a slow erosion of trust when audiences sense they’re being spoken at rather than genuinely helped.
Chat: To stand out, shift from volume to trust signals that are harder to copy: a clear POV, lived experience, named expertise, specific examples, and proof (original data, customer stories, field insights, proprietary frameworks, distinctive recurring formats). Use AI as an accelerator, not the author—human-led brief → AI-assisted draft → human edit for stance/voice → evidence & compliance pass → channel-specific rewrites—and aim to publish less, make it better, and make it truer so your content is unmistakably yours and reliably worth attention.
Interestingly, it echoes the same sentiment. AI is an enabler, not a handler. The human still very much sits in the driving seat. So, by all means lean on AI to accelerate the process, but make sure the final output still sounds like you, stands for something, and earns attention rather than demanding it.
What’s your view on AI-content? Do you use it in your marketing strategies?
Interested in how we use AI? Chat to us today about how we get the best out of AI tools, but always keep it human.
