As I think of AI today, I think of the wise words of Uncle Ben in Spiderman: “With great power comes great responsibility.”
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has revolutionized the way businesses operate, and as communication professionals we are provided unique opportunities to leverage the potential of AI to create compelling content and successful brand strategies. However, along the lines of these powerful AI tools come ethical considerations, security risks, and data privacy concerns that we must navigate judiciously.
From data-driven messaging to reshaping entire brand narratives, we’re standing at the forefront of a new technological revolution.
The very power that enables us to innovate, also mandates us to act responsibly; because our actions echo in unimaginable ways — when things go awry, the responsibility is ours to bear.
What follows are key principles that we should consider indispensable as we embrace AI in our communication strategies.
Guided by Ethics
When deploying AI, ethics isn’t a checkbox, but a commitment. This goes far beyond reputation management or mitigating risk. Ensuring that an algorithm’s purpose aligns with the organizational ethos leads to brand unity and a legacy rooted in trust. Choose responsible AI operations as you would a business partner, and you’ll foster consumer confidence and brand allegiance.
Data-Driven Wisdom
AI’s brilliance lies in its ability to take raw, complex data and turn it into actionable strategic insights in a short amount of time. It offers a sort of “editorial oversight” that presents macro trends and micro patterns in consumer sentiment and media cycles akin to narrative blueprints. Data, under an AI lens, becomes more than a feedback mechanism — it becomes an architect providing a blueprint for communication strategies.
Brand Authenticity
AI perpetually evolves and improves. So does your brand voice. But let’s take it a step further: as AI perpetually evolves and improves, so should its alignment with your brand voice. Take ChatGPT for instance: it might churn out values that are universally appealing but lack the nuance specific to your brand identity. When asking generative AI to explain Experian’s brand values, the robot referenced integrity, innovation, collaboration, and customer-first focus. Sounds good right? It’s vanilla. It missed a key value proposition: a strong commitment to improving the financial lives of consumers worldwide. Never let the machine drown out your brand’s unique symphony; orchestrate it to amplify your message instead.
Humans in the Loop
Automation might be AI’s promise, but it requires a human’s supervision. While AI can help accelerate the development of content creation, human oversight is essential to ensure that quality and congruence remain gold standards. By curating outputs carefully, it’s ensured that narratives are both unbiased and to be suitable for widespread visibility.
Privacy First
Data privacy isn’t just an ethical imperative; it’s a legal requirement. It is crucial to take measures to protect company and customer data and validate its confidentiality throughout the data lifecycle as it relates to AI usage. In short, secure the vaults of consumer data as meticulously as you would safeguard personal secrets. A solid fortress around data privacy mitigates risk and builds a bridge of trust between your brand and the audience.
As we work within our industry to stay ahead of this fast-growing AI trend, it’s becoming increasingly clear that AI has immense potential to revolutionize the way we operate. However, it cannot replace the human element of our profession, which involves building relationships, understanding the nuances of human communication, and adapting to changing circumstances.
Instead, we can leverage AI to enhance our work by automating repetitive tasks, generating personalized and engaging content, and providing data-driven insights that can help inform strategy and decision-making. This enables us to focus more on high-level strategic planning, building relationships with key stakeholders, and delivering value to our organizations and clients, while also improving efficiency and driving better results.
Let’s be clear. AI is not a replacement for human intelligence, but rather a powerful tool that can help augment it. It is continually evolving, so you must operate in a state of constant learning – study new tools, experiment with them, and refine your approach.
And as we embrace this powerful tool, heed Uncle Ben’s words: use it responsibly to enact great change.
Gerry Tschopp is senior vice president and head of global external communications for Experian, leading a team of communications professionals from all major regions. In addition, he also serves as chief communications officer for North America, with direct oversight of external and internal communications in North America. He is a member of the USC Center for PR board of advisors.