AI is transforming the way communications, marketing and public affairs teams work. But what does it mean for talent and the industry? In our latest series, we speak with senior leaders to explore the opportunities and challenges. In this interview, Madeleine Weightman, Co-Founder and COO, spoke with Stuart Bruce, internationally recognised PR futurist and co-founder of Purposeful Relations. Stuart shares how his team is embedding AI across workflows, why cultural change is the biggest barrier to success and how AI is redefining the skills, structures and leadership needed for the future of communications.
To get the biggest benefits from AI it’s critical it is embedded and used throughout the team. The biggest barrier to success is the AI adoption illusion. Employers provide their team with AI tools and expect immediate results. The reality is successful AI adoption requires cultural change. Start by auditing existing tasks and workflows to create a playbook of AI prompts and agents the whole team can use across a range of activities. Then start optimising and transforming workflows as the team increases AI literacy.
At Purposeful Relations we’ve developed the CommsTransform™ framework to analyse PR and comms teams to identify where AI can best be used to improve performance.
AI can improve the output of everyone in the team. If AI is assisting with day-to-day craft tasks like writing, project management and brainstorming then we need to look beyond simply what people can do. Strategic thinking, creativity, emotional intelligence, charm, confidence, interpersonal skills become even more important. Successful AI adoption only works if there is adequate training. Case studies show that if AI is implemented with a good plan and training, then it saves two to four hours a week for every employee. If it doesn’t have a plan and training, then it is about 15 minutes a week. Giving people AI tools without training is like giving them a company car if they don’t know how to drive. And it’s a high-performance sports car. We (Purposeful Relations) have created an AI driving licence. Everyone does a computer-based training course and then sits an AI test to get their AI driving licence.
Don’t fall into the trap of believing that AI can be used to replace junior members of the team. AI can improve the performance of everyone in your team. If they are provided with the right support, training and mentoring those juniors can progress far more rapidly to doing ‘manager’ level tasks than they could have previously. Investing in juniors protects your talent pipeline. It is often at a middle level where the most impressive improvements are seen. Managers who can already create good campaign plans can use AI to help them create excellent campaign plans. Often the biggest challenges arise at a senior level where too many see AI as a tool for their team to ‘do stuff’. They don’t lead by example and use AI to improve how they work. It can be driven by complacency (they believe they are already good so don’t need AI) or simply a reluctance to embrace new ways of working and a fear of being caught out as not very good at AI and technology. AI improves productivity. It enables people to do more in less time and usually to do it better. The implications for freelances and contractors are clear. If they aren’t expert in using AI they won’t be as competitive as other freelancers and contractors who do.
AI is the biggest driver of change, simply because it is part of everything else that is driving change. Geopolitics and sustainability are huge drivers of change, but AI is central to both of these. It’s important to remember that AI is much more than just the generative AI of ChatGPT and Copilot. It’s also applied AI and embodied AI. Applied AI is dramatically changing everything. It is the AI used to diagnose diseases or check the safety of aircraft engines. Embodied AI makes objects aware of and able to interact with their surroundings. Autonomous vehicles (driverless cars) and grocery delivery robots are just two examples of embodied AI changing society and the economy.
AI empowers and enables creativity. In public relations and communications creativity often actually means mixing together a series of ideas in a new way. AI can help to provide those initial ideas. Predictive analytics enables you to assess how likely a journalist is to be interested in a story or the virality of a social media post or news article. Freeing up time enables comms professionals to focus on ideas and creativity. When I spoke about AI at the Davos Communications Summit earlier this year delegates emerged with an optimistic view of how AI can improve creativity and is only a threat to those who choose to embrace it. All of the many aspects of AI are about improving performance. The emphasis shouldn’t be just on saving time, but on improving performance by doing everything better.
The most exciting thing about AI is its ability to unlock and improve human talent. There are many things that worry me. The most practical for PR and comms is AI social licence. If people and stakeholders (from employees and customers to regulators and investors) don’t trust AI then organisations, society and the economy can’t benefit from AI. It’s critical that comms professionals use AI ethically and provide expert counsel to clients and employers about how to do this. AI social licence means thinking about ethics, accuracy, sustainability, transparency, bias, inclusion, copyright and more. On a macro level I fear that politicians and governments can’t keep up. Too many politicians don’t understand AI beyond a superficial level. They don’t understand the risks and the opportunities to society and the economy.
For public relations and communications professionals capable of embracing AI it elevates their position in the organisation. They can use AI to do their jobs better and to demonstrate their impact on the organisation.
Whether you need interim, fractional or freelance expertise for a project, to plug a gap or upskill your team, or you are exploring new opportunities as an independent consultant, The Work Crowd can help you connect.
Madeleine Weightman is Co-Founder and COO at The Work Crowd, working with businesses to find flexible solutions and helping consultants build rewarding portfolio careers.
The Work Crowd is an award-winning platform connecting organisations with vetted freelance and interim experts in Marketing, Communications, Digital, Events & Public Affairs. With a global network and local industry expertise, we make finding the very best freelance, fractional and interim talent fast, simple and effective.