AI in Communications
Our challenges and opportunities
At the IABC Fusion APAC conference in The Philippines in March, AI was understandably a hot topic. Specifically, the need for communication professionals to be part of shaping its responsible use in organisations.
In a short time, AI has become a powerful workplace tool that is becoming increasingly sophisticated. However, for all its time saving benefits AI comes with inherent risks to organisations.
From misinformation to data security issues, loss of trust from customers through lack of transparency, and employee misuse, AI has the potential to cause reputational damage to organisations, impacting the bottom line.
Organisations need to be implementing governance and policies about its responsible and ethical use, engaging with stakeholders such as Senior Leaders, HR, IT, Legal and Communications. As custodians of organisational reputations and often brands, communication professionals bring a strategic view to the table on how to manage AI as a business opportunity and at the same time, foresee issues and manage them before they become a crisis.
AI in many ways is a communication tool. It allows us to research topics, create content, engage with audiences, generate data and more. As a profession, it is our responsibility to ensure people within organisations are empowered to use it responsibly and to its greatest potential as a communication platform. We need to be driving the implementation of AI frameworks along with ethical and governance considerations.
However, according to a recently released report, ‘Reimagining Tomorrow: AI in PR and Communication Management’ there is still some way to go for communication professionals to play a central role in AI adoption within organisations.
The report was led by the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management in partnership with the Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence (CSCE) and Reputation Lighthouse.
With close to 500 communication and public relations professionals contributing worldwide, the report provides powerful insights into how our industry is approaching AI’s challenges and opportunities.
Some call outs:
While AI adoption is widespread (91% allowed to use AI), there's a significant governance gap with only 39.4% of organisations having responsible AI frameworks and 38.3% having no constraints at all.
PR and communication professionals clearly prioritise governance (33.3%) and ethics (27.3%) as their most important AI-related responsibilities. However, their current involvement is often heavily weighted toward communicating the technical implementation of AI tools which they consider less strategically important.
Despite communication being our core function, fewer than half of the respondents communicate about AI to stakeholders—only 49.8% communicate about responsible AI approaches, 46.9% about AI ethics, and just 35.6% about AI governance structures. This represents a critical missed opportunity to demonstrate value and bring stakeholders along on the AI journey.
So what can we do in the communication profession?
We need to be proactive in how AI is being communicated across organisations. Not just telling people what tools are available. Rather, educating on how AI can be used most effectivity and responsibly as a communication platform to achieve the best business and customer outcomes.
The communication profession is at a crossroads. We have an opportunity right now to shape the future of AI best practice within organisations. Our most valuable contribution will be in shaping organisations’ ethical frameworks and governance for responsible AI.
Let’s rise to the challenge.