Practitioners must get ahead of AI
Skills, bias and transparency are critical issues for AI in PR.
By Eleonora Terzi
If your first contact with the world of robots and artificial intelligence (AI) was through movies, you’re not alone. My introduction to AI was the 2014 movie Ex Machina.
A programmer is invited to perform the Turing Test on Ava, a humanoid robot who seems capable of sensitivity and thoughtfulness. Spoiler alert: Ava passes the test, as she manipulates the programmer in helping her escape, and proceeds to leave him behind in an isolated house.
Our worst fear coming to life: robots taking over.
According to a survey conducted by Oxford University’s Centre for the Governance of AI, many Americans fear a future where mechanisms of AI become too intelligent.
However, we are currently living in the age of Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI): all the tools and instruments that have been successfully developed so far belong to a stage of weak AI.
AI that matches human capabilities - or even surpasses them - is a long way from us, and it is pure speculation so far. Nonetheless, even at this stage, AI has already started making its impact on a lot of industries - such as financial services, law, healthcare - and PR is no exception.
Two years ago, the CIPR’s Humans Still Needed study found that 12% of a PR practitioner’s total skills (out of 52 skills) could be complemented or replaced by AI today, with a prediction that this could climb to 38% within five years..
It comes to no surprise, then, that many practitioners are starting to fear the ramifications of AI on PR. However, it is important to remember that PR is an industry that has always been able to evolve, adapt itself to changes and even guide new trends: from the world wide web to social media and SEO.
PR practitioners have gained an invaluable set of skills that allowed them to be key assets in organisations and agencies.
It is now the time to understand what kind of skills will be required in this new age of AI, and start mastering them. It is essential to understand that PR practitioners need to be walking alongside AI and not behind it.
Skills, bias and transparency
Learning a new set of skills is not the only thing that is important when facing AI: even though Ava’s case is fictional and far-fetched, ethics in AI are a real problem that needs to be faced head on.
Transparency is one of the most important concerns when it comes to AI. As AI gets more integrated in daily life situations, the public has the right to know what type of technology they are depending on.
Bias is another AI-related apprehension: a recent example of this is French company Idemia, a facial recognition software. Tests found that Idemia’s algorithms were significantly more likely to mix up black women’s faces than those of white women, or black or white men.
Is it possible to have an explicit, correct use of AI? This, as well as AI’s effect on the job industry and the kind of skills PR practitioners need to acquire to stand out in the future, are the main questions I am addressing in my postgraduate dissertation.
Like many other practitioners, I am hopeful that a transparent future for AI is indeed possible - if the correct effort is put in making this a reality. I expect the skills we have learned so far will still be useful; however, it can be argued that in order to be indispensable hereafter, a new set of competencies will have to be mastered.
As someone who is graduating in the current pandemic, and struggling to find an internship, AI is now looking more daunting than ever. Nonetheless, I believe that if we can adapt and find a way through these very hard times, then we will also be able to do so when it comes to AI.
About Eleonora Terzi
Eleonora is a student at the University of Westminster. Her dissertation in MA, Public Relations, Advertising and Applied Communication is focused on AI in PR. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.
