Hosted by PRCA Cymru and University of South Wales Creative Industries faculty, speakers Shayoni and Jon were reflecting on the question;
“5 years into the future, how will AI be integrated into the PR practice and how will it affect the behaviours of practitioners?”.
Dr. Jon White, Chairman of The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) Behavioural Insights Group and alumnus of The London School of Economics (LSE) opened with the remark “Making predictions about the future is tough, a rather futile exercise sometimes however, we can look at how technology adoption evolves to help shape our thoughts.” Jon and Shayoni also posed some ethical and moral considerations of the use of AI both in practice and in general before sharing valuable insights into how the future of AI might play out in the work of PR practice
‘We are living in a time of constant tech disruption; the market is over-saturated with new and emerging technologies and is leaving little to no room for human connection’.
Jon’s words presided over the room and asked all its listeners what they really knew about AI. Yes, we know it is a form of new tech, with great advanced capabilities, but how much do we really know of it? Is it a ‘distraction’, is it something that could possibly do more harm than good?
Jon’s co-speaker Shayoni Lynn, Founder & CEO Lynn Group , Founder of ‘The Asian Communications Network’ and Chair of PRCA Cymru argued similarly, ‘we are still in the experimental phase, and we do not realize just how much artificial intelligence threatens or, could enhance our practice’.
Shayoni gave some real life illustrations on how easily ‘fiction can travel faster than fact’, and in a time where so much disinformation is spread, we need to be more aware and well versed in AI application to rule out any potential harm it can pose to the PR practice, and society in general.
Another potential threat posed was the effect on employment rates in the next 5 years. AI has the sheer power to carry out months of research or administrative tasks in a much shorter period, which may impact many roles in the near future. The question of government intervention, policy and regulation of AI was also raised .
As the conversation took a sombre tone, Jon and Shayoni reeled us back in with one key fact, AI can never take away real human connection and we should never forget that! It is the role and skill of the PR practitioner to translate the human element in our work . For current practitioners the key will be to think about the problems and areas that AI can help mitigate or enhance in our work such as crisis communications prediction modelling and what skills ,such as critical and strategic thinking ,will be needed by practitioners to harness the power of such technology .
For those in the audience like myself, starting out in their PR & communications career it’s both scary and exciting to think ahead about something that will likely become the norm in the next five years.
