We reflect on the pros and cons of AI in marketing and PR

Brookes & Co look at some of the pros and cons of AI in marketing

As we approach the new year, it’s clear that AI is going to be high on the agenda for many businesses in 2025. When used correctly, AI can be a useful marketing and PR tool for businesses, but there are many downsides. In this post, we’ll look at some of the pros and cons of AI in marketing.

The Pros of AI

Idea generation

AI is a game-changer in getting over the dreaded writers’ block! AI can be a valuable brainstorming tool when used to suggest topics and starting points for content. But note that’s ‘starting points’ – not necessarily an adequate complete solution.

Speedy content creation

AI can produce a large quantity of content quickly and at a low cost, generating everything from articles, press releases and social media posts, to videos, images and audio in a fraction of the time that it would take a human to produce.

SEO

AI is a handy tool for Search Engine Optimisation. AI tools pull from content that has already been SEO-optimised to identify keywords and optimise the structure of your articles so that they will be favoured by search engines.

Customer Service

AI-powered chatbots and automated responses can be used to improve the efficiency and responsiveness of your customer service, enabling businesses to provide fast, 24/7 support and greater efficiency for customer service agents.

The Cons of AI

It is detectable and uninspiring

Many recipients of AI-generated content such as journalists, award judges – anyone, in fact for whom unique or project specific content is vital – do not like it. Without qualified human intervention, it is easily detectable and as such too bland, too safe, too derivative, too boring. In short not fit for purpose.

Devaluation by search engines and social platforms

Both Google and Meta may penalise content that is AI generated. While Google has stated that it does not penalise content solely because it is AI-generated, it may penalise the content if it is lacks originality and is of low quality. Meta’s AI-detection system will automatically label any AI-generated content, and earlier this year Meta confirmed that they will penalise users who do not disclose “photorealistic video or realistic-sounding audio that was digitally created or altered”.

Visual authenticity

While AI might seem like the perfect cost and time saving answer to producing assets for your business, AI-generated images can often look ‘off’ and unrealistic. We are increasingly receiving requests from editors for original, compelling imagery, while those same editors are rejecting AI-generated images due to their perceived lack of authenticity.

Environmental impact

In the midst of editing images and brainstorming content ideas, the environmental impact of AI is often forgotten or overlooked. AI servers are large consumers of water, require a significant amount of electricity and produce a lot of electronic waste. They are not eco-friendly and overuse will undermine any decent sustainability policy.

Plagiarism

The potential for plagiarism is a major concern when it comes to AI-generated content. AI is trained on and pulls from existing sources to create content which means there is a possibility that it will closely resemble existing work, opening your business up to legal repercussions for plagiarism if your images or articles are too similar to an artist or author’s work.

Quality control

The quality of AI-generated content can be highly inconsistent and requires human vetting before it should be used in any context. AI will often need repeated re-prompting before an appropriate image is generated. Copy will need proofreading, fact-checking, editing and refining before being published, negating the time-saving benefits AI provides.

Finally, our reflections:

AI marketing tools have come a long way, but they are by their nature derivative from existing material and therefore not a substitute content created by humans who understand context and strategy.

The lesson is an important one. Use it as a helping hand or a start point, by all means, but do not rely upon it. For anything truly compelling, engaging and stand out, you need real people to influence your targets and capture your audience’s interest.

Get in touch if you'd like to find out more.