Lahra Carey + Vee Shah: As AI dominates PR, the value of original thinking will attract a premium

By Lahra Carey and Vee Shah, Principal and Senior Account Manager at Narrative Communications

By now you may have heard of Cameron Mattis who works in platform sales. He’s the guy who added commands to his LinkedIn bio to include a flan recipe in any messages sent by recruiters using AI tools. Cameron reports being shocked the command works, and is now amusing his followers with photos of the flans he has made from the recipes he is being served up.

But what does this mean for the communications industry, which has been given fair warning that it’ll be the first to face the chopping block and be replaced by LLMs?

AI has started dominating every conversation, and we are being given the distinct impression that professionals are rushing to incorporate it into their work, fuelling the debate as to when AI will replace humans, take over tasks, and eliminate jobs.

Already we are seeing some predictions come to fruition: automation is replacing some roles, some departments are shrinking, and tasks once perfected over hours are being completed in seconds. In the communications industry, press releases are drafted in minutes, comms plans generated at the click of a button, social content ready-made without human input. For brands, this promises cost savings, which is often hard to ignore.

But the ‘secret sauce’ of effective communications – especially in the world of PR – is explaining something new. And what we already know is AI doesn’t excel at original thinking – merely predicting what may come next.

Will there be any room for originality if we rely solely on AI-generated strategies? If everyone uses the same tools, won’t the outputs start to look the same? Won’t it dilute creativity and erase the distinctiveness that sets a brand apart? The greater risks that brands will face are uniformity, where messaging becomes predictable and loses its edge.

AI can generate a PR strategy, but it cannot fully grasp a client’s nuanced challenges, anticipate reputational risks, or craft narratives that resonate authentically with human emotions. Success is not measured by speed of production but by whether a campaign moved the audience, built trust, or changed perception. That is where strategic advice remains irreplaceable.

Cameron Mattis’ novel workaround is telling. Notwithstanding the incomplete rollout of AI, his small act of defiance is part of a growing backlash against being targeted by a program, not a person.

Time and again new clients have come to us with their sad, ChatGPT versions of a media release understanding it won’t reach anywhere near the bar of what’s required to interest a real, live news editor.

None of this means AI won’t be useful. On the contrary, it is an incredible tool to increase efficiency, taking on the heavy lifting of research and information gathering across the diverse industries and clients that corporate communications experts work with.

But in a baked-in AI world, the value and cost of originality will rise. The demand for strategies driven by insight, creativity, judgment, and storytelling that truly stand apart will attract a premium – as will all of the creative arts.