This 8th edition of the Relevance Report will not be relevant for long. But today, it definitely is. Everyone in communications is talking about Artificial Intelligence. This was not the case in 2019, when the USC Center for Public Relations surveyed PR professionals and found only 18% thought that AI would be an important part of their future business. In 2023, in a survey we developed with WE Communications that number grew to 80%. Six months later, AI is a topic at every conference, a debate at every agency and the focus of this report.

Previously, the Relevance Report has included a variety of issues that affect the PR profession — from activism to ethics. But this year, we zoomed in on just one — AI — in an attempt to understand how this tidal wave of technology will impact the future of the communications industry. To tackle this challenge, we teamed up with the experts at Microsoft, who are on front lines of the AI revolution. In addition to contributions from their senior executives like Jaron Lanier and Frank Shaw, we also heard from Dean Willow Bay, USC Faculty, CPR board members and a few USC Annenberg students. Overall, this report contains more than 30 insightful essays expressing different points of view about where AI is going to take us. To sum them up, I will borrow a metaphor, called the hero’s journey, suggested by one of our brilliant students, who helped edit all of the articles. 

On our hero’s journey, we are all going to be swept up on a quest that will bring chaos into our ordinary lives (think Bilbo Baggins). Along the way, we will be guided by wizards and tested by demons. We will face many trials. Sometimes we will prevail and sometimes we will fail. Eventually, we will learn the secrets of this new world and return home with the knowledge to enlighten others. 

For communicators, the AI journey begins when a sense of curiosity sparks experimentation with new programs, and leads to the adoption of innovative tools that will dramatically change the way we work. Along the way, we will face business issues related to accuracy, security, and transparency. We will encounter ethical issues related to plagiarism, privacy and protection. Some employees will be replaced, others will be retrained. These are serious concerns, but they won’t deter most of us from making the trip. 

This Relevance Report isn’t a map for that journey. No one can accurately predict which road the future will take. It’s more like a collection of provocative postcards beckoning us to enter an uncharted territory and explore the uncertainties within it.  And become heroes. Read below for information on the author, Fred Cook. 

Cook is the director of the USC Center of Public Relations, a professor of professional practice at USC Annenberg, and the chairman emeritus of the global PR firm Golin. During his 35-plus years at Golin, he has had the privilege to work with a variety of high-profile CEOs, including Herb Kelleher, Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs, and managed a wide variety of clients, including Nintendo, Toyota and Disney. His book, “Improvise: Unconventional Career Advice from an Unlikely CEO,” is the foundation for his popular USC Annenberg honors class on Improvisational Leadership.