By Emma Dale. Posted in Blog, State of the Industry Review

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionising workplaces across sectors. As these new technologies demonstrate increased accuracy and utility, we were curious to find out its role in the PR and communications industry in Asia.

On 3rd April, Prospect, together with PRCA APAC, convened a leaders’ lunch to discuss the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the PR and communications industry. A total of 13 in-house and agency leaders joined Emma Dale at the “AI-volutionising the PR Industry” discussion at Soho House in Hong Kong.

A quick poll at the start of the lunch revealed that everyone in the room and their teams are using AI. And they expect to continue to do so in the months and years ahead.

According to the event participants, AI is most frequently utilised as part of the brainstorming and ideation stage. Its ability to aggregate countless data points and convert the results into valuable research within a short period of time was seen as a significant benefit, freeing up more time and resources to spend on higher value tasks.

However, the limitation around confidentiality means that leaders are less able to leverage AI in highly regulated industries such as asset management or when handling crisis or reputational issues.

From a business perspective, AI has the potential to change the way in which agencies charge their clients. Tasks that can be carried out by AI (rather than a team member) can be charged at a lower rate, while the high value services such as strategic advisory which rely on the experience and perspective of a seasoned practitioner will demand a higher rate.

Nevertheless, transparency is essential. There was agreement within the room that all agency agreements should now include policies on AI usage.

Operationally, the integration of AI into the business requires an investment in training to adopt ‘prompt engineering’ best-practices. As with many things in life, the best results are only generated by the quality of the initial input, which is a skill in and of itself.

Industry leaders do not expect that jobs will be replaced by AI, as the technology is not a replacement for original thought and storytelling, however, some job tasks are likely to be reduced.

At the conclusion of the roundtable, the consensus was that AI is a valuable tool that will continue to be used within the PR and communications industry. By delegating more mundane tasks to AI, the technology has the potential to enable practitioners to focus on the important strategic counsel and advisory and thereby elevate the reputation of the industry as a whole.

Contact Emma Dale to discuss how to navigate AI and other industry trends as you grow your career, or your team.

And check out the Prospect State of the Industry Review for more insights.