I am planning to edit a new, free e-book, under a creative commons licence on Artificial Intelligence in Public Relations and Communications, using a similar system of collection, review and publication as I have used with the Corporate Activism, Women in PR and #Rezist2017 books.
Whether research, opinion pieces, case studies or useful toolkits, this e-book attempts to address (but not limited to) the following questions:
- How are PR/Comms practitioners, academics and educators responding to the AI challenge?
- How are PR/Comms practitioners, academics and educators including it into their work, including insight, measurement and evaluation?
- What are the concerns and predictions that PR/Comms practitioners, academics and educators raise when it comes to use and abuse or AI in PR?
- What are the solutions moving forward?
Interested or know someone who could contribute?
- June 5 – Send a brief proposal (250-500 words) to ana.adi@quadriga.eu together with your bio and affiliation
- June 19 (if not sooner) – Information on acceptance
- July 10 – Submit completed articles (up to 3,000 words in English) excluding references (APA)
- July 23 – edits and feedback (if needed)
- September – launch/release around the Kommunikations Kongress 2023
Need some context?
With thousands of Artificial Intelligence powered tools and platforms being released every day, Public Relations and Communication practitioners face a double challenge: a professional one related to the support and promotion of technology to other stakeholders and a personal one related to embracing the technological advances themselves.
As an industry and profession, PR/Comms have been overly techno-positive in the past often portraying technology as advancement and innovation despite unanswered ethical challenges and potential disruption. Moreover, while mesmerized by the idea of automation and technology, PR practitioners themselves refrained or simply did not ask any questions about algorithmic decisions and data sources leading to perpetuation of bias instead of the promised increased inclusion and equity (see Shannon Bowen’s and Kathy O’neil’s writings).
Moreover, while promoting technology, PR practitioners themselves felt more and more lagging behind, with many international professional studies including the Communication Monitor Series and the USC Annenberg Future of PR studies pointing to the practitioners repeated need to amp their digital and technological competencies and literacies.
Looking back only years ago Jean Valin’s 2018 study aptly called “Humas Still Needed” was predicting that only a few of the core experiential capabilities of PR (law, ethics, professional and personal) will remain untouched by technology and AI. We have reached the point of Valin’s prediction.