The End is Near... Not!

I’ve often joked with friends and family who ask me to explain what I do that I’m in the last role that will be replaced by AI. Now, along comes ChatGPT to test that theory.

This week I challenged the chatbot to come up with an plan for a small-cap company, a common assignment for the average IR agency. Within seconds it returned a nine-point plan covering almost everything one would want: advice on building a team, a communications strategy and the media to deliver the story, along with advice on investor engagement, monitoring market sentiment and maintaining compliance.

Not bad, eh? But on quick reflection, I’m sticking with my theory.

Investor relations, I think most agree, isn’t rocket science in terms of tactics. The art is in the strategy and how you adapt day-in and day-out. To that point, ChatGPT's plan devotes little or no attention to the importance of expectations management, building and managing and achieving and maintaining an appropriate valuation multiple.

That’s because you won’t get those answers from a bot, or (going old school here) a Google search. You get them from people who have been there before, who bring a wealth of experience and problem-solving capabilities to the table.

To that point, our colleague Sophia Lee Suarez posed a different question to ChatGPT, “What’s the difference between ChatGPT and a ?” Here’s the response:

"ChatGPT and a trusted advisor are quite different from each other, although they can both provide valuable insights and guidance to people seeking advice.

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence program that has been designed to process and generate natural language text in response to user input. It has been trained on a vast amount of data and is capable of providing information and answers to a wide range of questions.

However, ChatGPT is limited to the information it has been trained on and can only provide advice based on that data. It does not have personal experience or the ability to form a relationship with the person seeking advice.

On the other hand, a trusted advisor is a human being who has experience and expertise in a particular field and has developed a relationship of trust with the person seeking advice. A trusted advisor can provide personalized advice, based on their knowledge and experience, and take into account the specific needs and preferences of the person seeking advice. They can also offer emotional support and help the person navigate complex or difficult situations.

In summary, while ChatGPT can provide a vast amount of information and answers to a wide range of questions, a trusted advisor offers personalized advice, based on their expertise and the development of a relationship of trust with the person seeking advice."

Spot on, ChatGPT! It’s refreshing to see that even a bot recognizes the value of the expertise, experience, and personalized approach only a trusted advisor can bring. For businesses, the best technology innovations increase productivity and make humans better at what they do. Our team is busy identifying ways AI can improve our service delivery and enable us to spend more time doing what we do best: helping our clients develop creative and practical solutions to their biggest communications challenges.