South Africa, Aug. 25 -- Public relations has always been a people-powered industry.

We build relationships. We read the room. We manage competing personalities. We know when we need to be assertive, when to listen, and sometimes the best advice that we can offer to a client is to say nothing at all.

For many years now, these capabilities have been labelled as "soft skills".

Though important, they are often secondary to the more tangible work of communications, such as writing the press release, securing the media interview, overseeing the campaign and compiling a media coverage report.

However, the industry is evolving, and so is the importance of these skills.

AI can already write a press release in a matter of seconds. It can summ...