- blog
- CommTech
By Anne Gregory and Jean Valin
As corporations are becoming more digital, data-driven and agile in response to stakeholder demands and expectations, Page has been talking about the need to re-shape the work of the CCO. Page has foregrounded the importance of CommTech, a new approach to how stakeholders are engaged and influenced towards desired behaviors and outcomes.
CommTech requires sophisticated technology, from content management and campaign automation systems to collaboration platforms and data analytics. It also demands a deep reappraisal of our team structures, roles, processes and skills, all of which are described in the ‘CCO as Pacesetter’ report. A truly Agile culture is required of communication too.
Disturbingly, the report found only half of CCOs have begun to develop CommTech and just 27% are using automation to optimize content in real time. A mere 13% of CCOs regard themselves as being at Pacesetter level…..and we haven’t even begun to talk about Artificial Intelligence (AI) yet. We have to shift gear because AI is coming down the track quicker than we realize. As our colleagues at the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) in the UK have said, as a profession “we are sleepwalking into AI” (https://newsroom.cipr.co.uk/pr-is-sleepwalking-into-ai-new-cipr-aiinpr-report-finds/).
However, in true Page style we have to think about why (purpose) and how (values) we are doing a thing before we go onto what we do. This bring us onto ethics. The world of AI is fraught with big ethical challenges that we need to understand and confront before we plunge in to play with all the new shiny tools.
Two of Page’s good friends, the UK’s CIPR and the Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) have joined forces to prepare an Ethics Guide to Artificial Intelligence in PR.
As the authors of this guide we believe that public relations and comms professionals are trusted advisors not only on communication, but about the purpose and values of our organisations. As they transform as result of AI, there is a huge opportunity for us. Ethical and reputational guardianship should be at the heart of how organisations approach and implement AI and that is our business.
Getting ethics right, doing the right thing is hard enough in normal life. Adding in AI and machine learning generates a recipe for decision-making fraught with perils. One that requires the mind, human minds, to focus on ethics at every turn of activity because every mistake will be perpetuated and amplified in the big data, algorithmic universe.
Trust in AI is paramount and poorly designed and executed AI solutions will ruin reputations. To gain trust we must ensure transparency and inclusiveness in governance, design, testing and deployment and be aware of issues for staff, of bias, diversity and privacy throughout the process. Communication professionals need to be involved in all stages of development and to do so we must learn about AI itself and the ethical dilemmas it raises.
The Ethics Guide to Artificial Intelligence in PR sets a framework for arriving at ethical decisions with a five-step process. Learning about AI, defining the PR and AI pitfalls, identifying ethical issues and PR principles, using a decision-making framework and deciding ethically. To help with identifying ethical challenges in AI, the data ethics canvas from the Open Data Institute has been utilised and the sixteen public relations ethical principles come from the Global Alliance’s1 code.
We have identified six macro issues currently defining the environment and which have to be considered by CCOs and all senior managers as they consider automation and AI:
Apart from looking at these big issues, the Guide also gives practical help on picking a way through use of individual AI enabled tools. Two examples illustrate the decision-making process in action, one around using LinkedIn Insight tagging and the other on use of facial recognition. Read the Guide to find out the answer! And yes, it’s complicated and proves that a good maxim to remember in professional life and even more so with AI is that just because something can be done doesn't mean it should be done. Indeed, the essence of all ethical decisions is making thoughtful choices which limit actions, but also permits them. The test of a well-reflected ethical decision is one that has survived scrutiny and challenge in thought, intent and execution.
The Ethics Guide to Artificial Intelligence in PR is the latest guidance from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations AIinPR panel. The panel has produced four primers and issued two major research reports: ‘Humans Still Needed’, published in 2018 looks at the impact of AI tools on the skill set of public relations and found that currently only 12% of skills or tasks have been assisted or replaced by AI with a potential reaching 38% by 2023. ‘The effects of AI on the professions’ was published in January 2020 and draws out how vulnerable all professionals are to automation and AI. Frighteningly, it confirms that compared to other professions, public relations is sleepwalking into an AI world, but also provides a way forward for the profession by posing some key issues to be addressed as a matter of urgency.