If you think back to the movies of the eighties and nineties in which intelligent machines were briefed to take over the world, one thing was missing; emotional intelligence (EQ). They didn’t politic their way to global rule but instead used AI as the brute force to get a job done.

Emotional intelligence is a uniquely human attribute but, despite trillions of dollars invested in millions of hours of development, AI tools are unable to piece together the complex human cues to manipulate the emotions and decisions of others. 

Yes, AI is evolving from natural language processing to multimodal sentiment analysis. It can even identify someone’s psychological state using facial expression, posture, tone, and speech. What it cant do, is recognise this in relation to one’s own state and the context of the interaction and then use it  to communicate, persuade and manage the other person. That’s a long way off.

If emotional intelligence enables collaboration, leadership, adaptability and good decision-making, the reality is that we humans are having to use our EI to deal with the fallout of many issues actually caused by AI in the PR industry. Indeed, many agencies and client HR teams are now targeting these softer skills as a priority in recruiting.

EI really is the strategic asset in an AI driven world, yet it’s not that common in business.

Research by Dr Travis Bradberry suggests that only 36% of people have good emotional intelligence, and that having a good EQ leads to excellent communications skills, which could be the key to a flawless business pitch.

EQ also enables us to handle conflict and negative emotions. This is an incredible skill to have in a crisis scenario where PRs fend off calls from journalists, while dealing with stressed executives who are about to face the cameras. Being able to stay calm and work in a highly emotional environment to collaborate on a resolution requires real emotional resilience.

Thinking about the role of an agency or in-house PR, whether it is in the case of a crisis or a newsjack, or as a client consultant or media facing publicist, emotional intelligence is a skill that every good PR has, in abundance.

Yes, AI can speed things up, can find information, understand sentiment in text, possibly read expressions or understand images but it misses the true human spark of being able to manage your own emotional response in order to change the emotions and decisions of others, and all of that in real time.

A uniquely female trait

While emotional intelligence is often thought of as a singular concept, it’s actually a real time combination of many different aptitudes: 

• Self-awareness. Tuning into our own feelings
• Other awareness. Perceiving and discerning the moods, thoughts, and feelings of others by interpreting non-verbal cues like body language and facial expressions
• Emotional control. Regulation of our moods and responses
• Empathy. Understanding the emotional experiences of others.

Studies have shown that women tend to score higher than men in tests around these emotional intelligence pillars. Perhaps only being behind men when it comes to controlling their emotions or demonstrating assertiveness.

Of course, these studies show general trends and don't apply to every man and woman out there, but perhaps they could imply why there are so many women in the PR industry and why they do so well? As we mark International Women’s Day, it’s great to see that PR is an industry where women get to show off their superpower and there’s not a supercomputer in sight.

1. Dr Travis Bradberry: https://www.inc.com/travis-bradberry/are-you-emotionally-intelligent-here-s-how-to-know-for-sure.html
2. Alan Price, CEO Bright HR for Forbes Human Resources Council 2023: https://www.forbes.com/council...