Public Relations vs. AI: Challenges, Opportunities, and Considerations

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2025-2144

Keywords:

Public relations, Artificial intelligence, Strategic communication, Influencers, Corporate reputation, Digital ecosystem, Professional ethics, Communicative transformation

Abstract

Introduction: contextualizes the strategic role of public relations in building legitimacy and symbolic connections within complex and digital environments. Methodology: employed is documentary in nature, based on a thorough bibliographic review of relevant academic and professional sources. The analysis focuses on the emergence of influencers as new communicative mediators and the incorporation of artificial intelligence tools, particularly in audience monitoring and message personalization. Among the main findings, the growing professionalization of influencer marketing stands out, as well as the role of content creators in mitigating advertising avoidance. The benefits of integrating these actors into communication strategies are also identified, provided there is alignment between their values and those of the brands. Discussion: the need to establish ethical frameworks, regulations, and professional standards is raised to ensure the authenticity and sustainability of these practices. Conclusion: the article highlights that public relations must proactively adapt to the new digital ecosystem without abandoning their foundational principles of ethics, transparency, and relationship-building.

Downloads

Author Biographies

José Daniel Barquero Cabrero, ESERP University

He is a full professor and professor, as well as a doctor in Economic and Social Sciences from the International University of Catalonia; the Camilo José Cela University in Madrid; the Autonomous University of Coahuila in Mexico; and interuniversity degrees from the Universities of Malaga, Huelva, Cadiz, and Seville. He is also a registered economist, number 13,049.
He has been awarded honorary doctorates for his contributions to academia by universities in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. He was awarded the Commander of the Order of Civil Merit by His Majesty the King of Spain, by the Government of Spain, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. He was awarded the European Cross of Gold by the European Development Foundation.
He is a member of the Board of Trustees of ESERP Business & Law School and a Professor of Economics and Business at UOLS-Open University La Salle, as well as a PhD professor at Ramon Llull University, La Salle. He advises Spanish companies and financial and banking institutions. He is also Honorary President of the European Higher Council of Doctors, a member of the Royal Academy of Economic and Financial Sciences of Spain, the Royal Academy of Doctors, and the Ibero-American Academy of Doctors, all of which include numerous Nobel Prize winners, with whom he has shared his research.
He has worked in the United States with the world pioneer of Public Relations, Professor Dr. Edward L. Bernays Freud, advisor to the Presidents of the United States and the White House, and in the United Kingdom with Professor Dr. Sir Sam Black, advisor to Her Majesty the Queen of England and leading companies.

David Caldevilla-Domínguez, Complutense University of Madrid

Graduate and PhD in Information Sciences (Audiovisual Communication from the Complutense University). Diploma in Teaching (University of Zaragoza).
Professor at the Faculty of Information Sciences at the University of Madrid (UCM). Lecturer at: Complutense University, European University of Madrid, IED, ESERP, and IPAM (Porto, Portugal). Index h 30 (Google Scholar) https://dialnet.unirioja.es/metricas/investigadores/198078. Leading Spanish author in published works in the field of Communication (Dialnet), 7th in citations received.
Speaker and lecturer in various courses and professor in several university-sponsored programs (Telemadrid, Walter & Thompson, McCann, etc.). Secretary General of SEECI (Spanish Society of Ibero-American Communication Studies), of the History of Information Systems (HISIN), and of the International Forum on Communication and Public Relations (Fórum XXI).
Principal Investigator (PI) of the Complutense Research Group Concilium. Author of more than 380 scientific articles and chapters and six books: Asturias and La Rioja, a Common History, The Spielberg Seal, Culture and Public Relations, PR Manual, PR and its Foundations, and The Inner Face of Business Communication. He has supervised ten doctoral theses (two with European mention). He is a member of the Spanish Association of Film Historians and the Spanish Association of Scientific Film and Image. He is a member of scientific committees at numerous international conferences and scientific journals. He has also been a speaker at more than 120 international conferences. He has also appeared on various publications and has been a radio commentator.

References

Abidin, C. (2015). Communicative intimacies: Influencers and perceived interconnectedness. Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology, 8. https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/26365

Abuín-Penas, J. y Máiz Bar, C. (2022). Los influencers y las relaciones públicas en la industria deportiva: análisis de los deportistas españoles en Instagram. Revista de Estudios de Comunicación, 26(2), 123-145. https://dx.doi.org/10.17979/redma.2022.26.2.9192 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17979/redma.2022.26.2.9192

Almansa-Martínez, A. (2004). Historia de los gabinetes de comunicación en España. Historia y comunicación social, 9, 5-21. https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/HICS/article/view/HICS0404110005A/19269

Almansa-Martínez, A. (2005). Relaciones públicas y gabinetes de comunicación. Anàlisi. Quaderns de comunicació i cultura, 32, 117-132. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/38977160.pdf

Aramburú Moncada, L. G., López Redondo, I. y López Hidalgo, A. (2023). Inteligencia artificial en RTVE al servicio de la España vacía. Proyecto de cobertura informativa con redacción automatizada para las elecciones municipales de 2023. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 81, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2023-1550 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2023-1550

Arceo-Vacas, J. L. (2006). La investigación de relaciones públicas en España. Anàlisi. Quaderns de comunicació i cultura, 34, 111-124. www.raco.cat/index.php/Analisi/article/view/55447/64579

Armendáriz, E. (2012). Relaciones públicas pioneras en España. Algunos precedentes en la primera mitad del siglo XX y pasos preliminares de la nueva profesión. Anàlisi. Quaderns de comunicació i cultura, 45, 15-31. https://analisi.cat/article/view/n45-armendariz/n45-armendariz

Barrientos-Báez, A., Caldevilla-Domínguez, D. y Arteaga Ros, M. (2025). Aplicación del neuromarketing y la neurocomunicación por las amas y amos de casa influencers. En Ubaldo Cuesta y Almudena Barrientos-Báez (eds.), Neurocomunicación y neuromarketing: teorías y aplicaciones en la era digital. Colección: Comunicación, Neurocomunicación y Salud. Fragua.

Belanche, D., Flavián, M. e Ibáñez-Sánchez, S. (2020). Followers’ reactions to influencers’ Instagram posts. Spanish Journal of Marketing, 24(1), 64-83. https://dx.doi.org/10.1108/sjme-11-2019-0100 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/SJME-11-2019-0100

Bentley, K., Chu, C. K., Nistor, C., Pehlivan, E. y Yalcin, T. (2021). Social media engagement for global influencers. Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 34(3), 205-219. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08911762.2021.1895403 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08911762.2021.1895403

Brandín, J. A. y Barquero, J. D. (2024). La confiabilidad: el lugar donde la confianza de ego y la promesa de alter pueden encontrarse. Revista de Ciencias de la Comunicación e Información, 29. https://doi.org/10.35742/rcci.2024.29.e298 DOI: https://doi.org/10.35742/rcci.2024.29.e298

Cabrera-Cabrera, M-A. y Almansa-Martínez, A. (2016). El director de relaciones públicas en las grandes empresas españolas. Revista internacional de relaciones públicas, 6(11). https://doi.org/10.5783/RIRP-11-2016-07-113-134 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5783/revrrpp.v6i11.412

Caldevilla-Domínguez, D., Barrientos-Báez, A. y Fombona-Cadavieco, J. (2020). Evolución de las Relaciones Públicas en España. Artículo de revisión. Profesional de la información, 29(3), e290305. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2020.may.05 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2020.may.05

Claudé Rabaté, C. y Claude Rabaté, J. (2018). Enfrentamiento en el paraninfo: Unamuno, “fulminado”. Elpais.com. https://acesse.dev/XoLDc

Dunan, A. y Mudjiyanto, B. (2020). The Republic of Indonesia Government Public Relations Communication Strategy in the Era of the Industrial Revolution 4.0. JATI - Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 25(1). https://jati.um.edu.my/index.php/jati/article/download/21876/11780 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22452/jati.vol25no1.4

Fernández Gómez, J. D., Gordillo-Rodríguez, M.-T., Pacheco Barriga, L. y Fernández Blanco, E. (2023). Marcas y propósito: Análisis de las estrategias digitales en Twitter de las marcas más reputadas en España. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 81, 44–75. https://doi.org/10.4185/rlcs-2023-2005 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4185/rlcs-2023-2005

Giles, D. C. (2017). How do fan and celebrity identities become established on Twitter? A study of ‘social media natives’ and their followers. Celebrity Studies, 1–16. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2017.1305911

Grunig, James E. (1992). Excellence in public relations and communication management: Contributing to effective organizations. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Hendrawan, J., Budiana, D. y Yogatama, A. (2023). Online Public Relations Communication Strategy by Akar Tuli Malang in Campaigning the Use of Indonesian Sign Languange (BISINDO). Journal of Content and Engagement, 1(1), 50-64. http://dx.doi.org/10.9744/joce.1.1.50-64 DOI: https://doi.org/10.9744/joce.1.1.50-64

Hernández-Santaolalla, V., Rubio-Hernández, M. del M., Fernández Gómez, J. D. y De Oliveira, J. S. (2024). Propaganda de reacción y de negación en redes sociales: Los partidos andaluces en YouTube. Revista de Ciencias de la Comunicación e Información, 29. https://doi.org/10.35742/rcci.2024.29.e301 DOI: https://doi.org/10.35742/rcci.2024.29.e301

Ihlen, O., Bartlett, J. L. y May, S. (2011). Corporate social responsibility and communication. In The Handbook of Communication and Corporate Social Responsibility (pp. 3-22). Wiley-Blackwell. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118083246.ch1

Kapitan, S. y Silvera, D. H. (2016). From digital media influencers to celebrity endorsers: Attributions drive endorser effectiveness. Marketing Letters, 27(3), 553–567. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-015-9363-0

L'Etang, J. (2008). Public relations: Concepts, practice and critique. Sage.

Lin, H.C. S., Lee, N. C. A. y Lu, Y. C. (2021). The Mitigators of Ad Irritation and Avoidance of YouTube Skippable In-Stream Ads: An Empirical Study in Taiwan. Information, 12, 373. https://doi.org/10.3390/info12090373 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/info12090373

López Ortega, A. I., Almela Baeza, J. y Munafó Horta, J. J. (2024). Nuevas aplicaciones de divulgación científica para universitarios: Tinder. Revista de Ciencias de la Comunicación e Información, 29, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.35742/rcci.2024.29.e296 DOI: https://doi.org/10.35742/rcci.2024.29.e296

Máiz-Bar, C. (2022). La profesionalidad de los influencers. Journal of Communication Management, 19(3), 37-49. https://dx.doi.org/10.29105/gmjmx19.37-489 DOI: https://doi.org/10.29105/gmjmx19.37-489

Martín-Valor, M., Bartol-Martín, E. y San Román-Muzquiz, J. (2024). La llegada del formato reels a Instagram y su efecto en los contenidos. European Public & Social Innovation Review, 9, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2024-1013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2024-1013

Marwick, A. E. (2015). Instafame: Luxury selfies in the attention economy. Public Culture, 27(1), 137–160. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/08992363-2798379

Miquel-Segarra, S. y Navarro-Beltrá, M. (2016). Análisis de la investigación sobre la historia y evolución de las relaciones públicas y la comunicación corporativa en España. Doxa Comunicación, 22, 129-146. https://doi.org/10.31921/doxacom.n22a6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31921/doxacom.n22a6

Moreno Cabanillas, A. y Castillero Ostio, E. (2023). Comunicación política y redes sociales: análisis de la comunicación en Instagram de la campaña electoral del 13F. Vivat Academia, 156, 199–222. https://doi.org/10.15178/va.2023.156.e1461 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15178/va.2023.156.e1461

Muñoz Gallego, A., De Sousa Lacerda, J. y Costa Araujo, A. C. (2023). La divulgación científica en instagram: el reto del discurso audiovisual científico ante los contenidos efímeros. Revista de Comunicación de la SEECI, 56, 148–175. https://doi.org/10.15198/seeci.2023.56.e823 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15198/seeci.2023.56.e823

Pérez Ordóñez, C. y Castro-Martínez, A. (2023). Creadores de contenido especializado en salud en redes sociales. Los micro influencers en Instagram. Revista de Comunicación y Salud, 13, 23–38. https://doi.org/10.35669/rcys.2023.13.e311 DOI: https://doi.org/10.35669/rcys.2023.13.e311

Pöyry, E., Pelkonen, M., Naumanen, E. y Laaksonen, S. M. (2021). A call for authenticity: Audience responses to social media influencer endorsements in strategic communication. In Social media influencers in strategic communication (pp. 103-118). Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003181286-6

Rodríguez-Hidalgo, A. B., Tamayo Salcedo, A. L. y Castro-Ricalde, D. (2023). Marketing de Influencers en el turismo: Una revisión sistemática de literatura. Revista de Comunicación de la SEECI, 56, 99–125. https://doi.org/10.15198/seeci.2023.56.e809 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15198/seeci.2023.56.e809

Russell, S. J. y Norvig, P. (2010). Artificial intelligence: A modern approach. Pearson Education Limited.

Sancho Belinchón, C. (2025). La divulgación de contenidos de salud en Instagram: análisis de influencers especializados. European Public & Social Innovation Review, 10, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2025-1334 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2025-1334

Skoko, B. y Gluvačević, D. (2020). Creativity in Public Relations: The Case from Croatia – How to Make the History of the Insurance Company “Cool”. En: Bettany-Saltikov, J., & Kandasamy, G. (Eds.) Public Relations and Advertising. IntechOpen. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89960 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93689

Solano-Fleta, L. (1995). Fundamentos de las relaciones públicas. Síntesis.

Utanir, S. (2021). 1929 beauty contest in the context of public relations history. Journal of International Relations and Diplomacy, 1(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.0000/jird.2021.01.01.1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.47604/jir.1588

Verwey, S. y Muir, C. (2022). Bell Pottinger And The Dark Art Of Public Relations. Journal of Communication Studies and Applications, 4(1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.0000/jcsa.2022.04.01.1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.36615/jcsa.v38i1.1546

Weimann, G., Tustin, D. H., van Heerden, G. y Pitt, L. F. (2018). Commercial and social influencer advertising: Recall, brand attitude and purchase intention. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.2000697 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.2000697

Yaşa, H. y Birsen, H. (2024). ¿Se puede considerar a los influencers líderes de opinión? Un repaso a los influyentes y los contenidos de las redes sociales. Vivat Academia, 157. https://doi.org/10.15178/va.2024.157.e1545 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15178/va.2024.157.e1545

Zhang, W., Chintagunta, P. K. y Kalwani, M. U. (2021). Social Media, Influencers, and Adoption of an Eco-Friendly Product: Field Experiment Evidence from Rural China. Journal of Marketing Research, 85(3), 10-27. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022242920985784 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022242920985784

Zhou, S., Blazquez, M., McCormick, H. y Barnes, L. (2021). How social media influencers’ narrative strategies benefit cultivating influencer marketing: Tackling issues of cultural barriers, commercialised content, and sponsorship disclosure. Journal of Business Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.05.011 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.05.011

Downloads

Published

2025-06-12

How to Cite

Barquero Cabrero, J. D., & Caldevilla-Domínguez, D. (2025). Public Relations vs. AI: Challenges, Opportunities, and Considerations. European Public & Social Innovation Review, 10, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2025-2144

Issue

Vol. 10 (2025)

Section

Innovation through AI: What Does It Contribute to Our Society?

License

Copyright (c) 2025 José Daniel Barquero Cabrero, David Caldevilla-Domínguez

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under Creative Commons Non Commercial, No Derivatives Attribution 4.0. International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.), that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).