AI Can Make Brand Messaging Feel Inauthentic - Here's How PR Teams Keep The Human Edge
Overusing AI in comms is a quick way to lose trust. That was the clear message from Zuraida Malek, project management director of the Global Public Relations Conference and Festival 2025. She cautions that audiences pick up on robotic tone and generic phrasing fast - and it hurts credibility.
"People can tell when a brand goes all-in on AI," she said. Speed is useful, but it can't replace human judgment, empathy, and cultural nuance - especially in Malaysia, where warmth and emotional depth matter.
Where AI Goes Wrong In PR
AI makes it easy to ship more, faster. But volume without voice feels empty. Over-automation creates sameness, dilutes brand personality, and increases the risk of tone-deaf messaging.
There's also a reputational risk. Poor prompts, misaligned outputs, or undisclosed AI use can trigger backlash. As Zuraida put it, AI adds a new line item to your crisis list - and it needs to be managed intentionally.
Use AI - Don't Let It Use Your Brand
- Adopt a human-in-the-loop rule for all external statements, high-stakes emails, and leadership comms.
- Publish an AI disclosure policy. If AI meaningfully shaped a message, say so in plain language.
- Build a brand voice guardrail: examples, banned phrases, tonal dos/don'ts, and cultural sensitivities.
- Run scenario simulations and "red team" reviews for AI-related risks (misquotes, hallucinations, data leaks).
- Create a cross-functional AI council with PR, legal, risk, IT, and data protection leads.
- Protect data. Lock down inputs, strip PII, and align with internal security and privacy standards.
- Define where AI helps: research, transcript cleanup, summaries, outlines, variants for A/B tests.
- Define where humans lead: crisis responses, apologies, sensitive topics, stakeholder or regulator updates.
- Measure impact with trust signals: sentiment, complaints, escalations, issue resolution time, and stakeholder feedback.
- Document learnings. Keep a playbook of what worked, what backfired, and how to improve prompts and reviews.
Practical Ratios That Keep You Safe
Use AI to draft, humans to decide. A simple split many teams adopt: AI for first passes and options; humans for edits, approvals, and final tone. In high-risk moments, let humans own the message end-to-end and use AI only for research or formatting.
Transparency Builds Credibility
Don't wait for regulation to force your hand. Be open about AI assistance where it's material, keep human oversight on record, and run ethical reviews on sensitive content. It signals respect - and it prevents preventable crises.
Conference: Ethics, Data Protection, Cultural Sensitivity
The Global Public Relations Conference and Festival 2025 will be held at World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur, Nov 13-15. Expect deep dives into ethics, data protection, and cultural sensitivity - the exact issues comms teams are wrestling with as AI scales.
Learn more about the conference
Skill Up Without Losing Your Voice
If your team is formalizing AI use in PR, build capability the right way - process first, tools second. Start with prompts, guardrails, and review workflows, then layer in training.
Explore practical AI courses by job role that help comms teams work faster without sacrificing authenticity.
The takeaway is simple: AI is a force multiplier, not a substitute for human connection. Use it to accelerate the work - and let people carry the message.
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