PR Futurist | Stuart Bruce | Purposeful Relations

Welcome

Global CommTech Report 2024 released this week

This week Stuart is in Istanbul speaking at the ICCO Global Summit to launch this year's Global CommTech Report. Make sure you register now to receive notice when it's published.

He'll also be moderating a panel on the impact of AI on public relations.

In this issue of PR Futurist we look at a new crisis communications planning guide from the UK's Government Communication Service and a toolkit to help you combat misinformation disinformation. We share a fascinating article by Rod Cartwright about the crucial role of critical human infrastructure.

We also look at how two big UK publishers are already using AI extensively for news production, as well as how Microsoft aims to bring emotional support to Copilot. PwC has a big report out which says leaders must must lead by example by using generative AI daily.

And finally we see how even a top AI boss can be tricked by AI and how British spy chiefs are cracking down on wannabe spies using AI to cheat in job applications.

News

AI audio summary of this issue

You can listen to an AI generated summary of this issue as an audio podcast. It was created with an open-source AI tool. Let us know what you think.

Stuart Bruce

Global CommTech Report 2024 launches on Wednesday 9 October

At Purposeful Relations towers we've been beavering away on analysing the data and identifying insights and recommendations for this year's Global CommTech Report.

Stuart will present the results in a keynote at the ICCO Global Summit in Istanbul on Wednesday 9 October. He'll then moderate a panel discussion on the impact of AI on public relations.

You can register here to receive a copy of the report as soon as it is released.

Karen Marshall

GCS kicks off new cohort of Advanced Leaders

Last week the first cohort of the re-worked Government Communication Service Advanced Leader Masters programme kicked-off at the University of Huddersfield. Rod Cartwright and I were invited by Anne Gregory and Gabriel Sadi to lead sessions on both days. Rod's was on complexity and crisis, while on the first day mine focused on the challenges and opportunities of AI and technology.

Impact of AI on public relations panel at ICCO Global Summit

As well as launching the Global CommTech Report 2024 at the ICCO Global Summit Stuart will also be moderating a panel on the impact of AI on public relations.

His fellow panelists are: Viroslava Novosylna, CEO and founder, SLOVA Tech PR and co-founder, Wtech; Juha Frey, managing director, Netprofile; and Hemant Gaule, Dean, SCoRe.

This year’s theme, “Reputation. Relevance. Relationships.”, will delve into PR’s dual strategic and creative roles. On one side, the summit will examine PR’s impact in geopolitics, elections, and corporate decision-making. On the other, it will highlight innovative and ethical approaches to using PR creatively to enhance our planet. The event aims to explore how PR can be leveraged both strategically and creatively to address some of the most pressing global issues of our time.

Other speakers at the summit include: Johna Burke, global MD of AMEC; Simon Shaw. global chief creative officer, Burson; Paul Holmes, founder, PRovoke Media; Rod Cartwright, founder, Rod Cartwright Consulting; Mark Hutcheon, director, Deloitte UK; Patrick Penninckx, head of digital development and governance, Council of Europe; Julian Boulding, founder and President, thenetworkone; Koray Camgöz, CEO, The Taylor Bennett Foundation; Nitin Mantri, regional executive managing director for APAC, WE Communications, and group CEO, Avian WE; Farzana Baduel, CEO of Curzon PR and president elect of the CIPR and Natalya Yemchenko, chief corporate affairs officer, System Capital Management (SCM).

Karen Marshall

Data, measurement, analytics

Innovative initiative to share your comms' teams work

Earlier this year we did some training and development work with the European Chemicals Agency to help its communications and marketing team improve planning, measurement and evaluation.

Its head of communications has just shared on LinkedIn one of the initiatives it has since introduced. A live display to keep colleagues updated on the communications team’s activities in support of their work across the areas of news, social media, web and audiovisual.

Stuart Bruce

Crisis communication

UK Government Communication Service publishes new crisis communications planning guide

The UK Government Communication Service has published a new crisis communications planning guide - the STOP Template.

S - Strategy: Clear objectives rooted in audience insights.

T - Tactics: Set out key actions for the first hour, day, and week of a crisis.

O - Organisation: Build key relationships, clear sign-off processes, and assign roles.

P - People: Support your team with the right training.

When I shared it on LinkedIn it was one of my most popular pieces of recent content with 30,259 (as of the morning of Monday 7 October) views, 291 interactions and 70 shares.

Not surprisingly as it's another great resource from GCS.

Stuart Bruce

Bellingcat's Online Investigations Toolkit to combat disinformation and misinformation

Bellingcat's Online Investigations Toolkit is an incredible resource for anyone who deals with reputation, issues, crises and risks. It is a list of, mainly free, resources that can be used to identify and anlayse misinformation and disinformation. Primarily intended for journalists, it is just as useful for public relations and communications professionals.

The Bellingcat Online Investigations Toolkit comes with detailed descriptions maintained by a team of volunteers and an AI-powered assistant.

Stuart Bruce

It’s time to rethink crisis, risk and preparedness: the crucial role of critical human infrastructure

The National Preparedness Commission has published a fascinating article by Rod Cartwright on the need to rethink crisis, risk and preparedness and think about the crucial role of critical human infrastructure.

He looks at the pervasive sense of permacrisis in the modern world; the need for enhanced Individual and collective readiness, resilience, and preparedness and addressing linguistic Inaccuracies and attitudinal misconceptions. He ends by looking at the architecture of critical human infrastructure.

Have a read. It's thought provoking.

Stuart Bruce

AI, digital and social

How Reach and News UK are already using AI in the newsroom

While some in public relations and communications are still thinking about and worrying about the impact of generative AI big publishers are steaming ahead to use it. News UK has built its own AI tools, while Reach has created Guten, a bot that can rewrite stories for its different sites.

At PressGazette's Future of Media Technology Conference News UK chief operating officer David Dinsmore said more than a third of News UK staff are using AI tools on a daily basis. He wants to quickly make it 75%. He said The Times has developed an AI tool "to help with headline suggestions, summaries and light subbing." It is now used by other News UK titles such as The Sun.

Reach's Gutonbot rewrites articles into the house style of different Reach brands. It can take content from one and "re-version" it for another. It also takes newswire content from PA and SWNS and reversions it for the house style of different titles.

Stuart Bruce

Microsoft’s AI chief is bringing emotional support to Copilot

At last week's session on AI for senior government communications leaders we had lots of great discussion and questions. One of the questions was about if AI could have emotional intelligence and be able to do the advanced reasoning based on experience and intuition that humans can.

That's the direction that Microsoft is heading with Copilot. It has recruited Mustafa Suleyman as its CEO for AI. Suleyman is a co-founder of UK AI firm DeepMind which was acquired by Google in 2014.

Before joining Microsoft he founded Inflection AI which launched a chatbot called “Pi” for Personal Intelligence. The bot “remembers” past conversations and seems to get to know its users over time. According to Suleyman, the goal for Pi is to be a digital “Chief of Staff”, with the initial design focused on maintaining conversational dialogue with users, asking questions, and offering emotional support.

This now appears to be the direction he is leading Microsoft Copilot as he oversees an overhaul that gives Copilot an empathetic voice, the ability to see, and more advanced reasoning skills.

Stuart Bruce

Even OpenAI boss Sam Altman was tricked into thinking ChatGPT's voice mode was a real person

Have you tried ChatGPT's advanced voice mode yet? You should as it is impressive. It shows how close we are to the science fiction depiction of AI where we can have real-time conversations with intelligent computers.

It's so realistic that even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was tricked into thinking it was a real person.

To use it you'll need a ChatGPT Plus subscription (you can just subscribe for a month to test it). It's also not available in all global markets.

Stuart Bruce

MI6 has banned wannabe spies from using AI in job tests

AI is everywhere. MI6, the UK's secret foreign intelligence service, is asking would-be spies to declare that they will not use AI. However, it's not a blanket ban as they've only been banned from using AI in the final stages of the recruitment process. Even 'C' knows spies need to know how to use AI safely and effectively.

Stuart Bruce

Research and reports

PwC report says leaders must adopt generative AI

PwC's Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2024 has some interesting findings.

The top line is AI appears over-hyped as just 12% of respondents—a cohort that was disproportionately young, skilled, and working in tech, media, telecommunications, or financial services—said they use generative AI every day and 37% have never used it at all. However, the big takeaways are positive.

All of the recommendations PwC makes are ones we're already advocating and doing with clients. AI policies and training are essential. Leaders must use AI to lead by example.

Below is part of an unedited AI summary of the report created using a new tool we're experimenting with called SaveDay.

📈 AI pays dividends

81% of daily GenAI users say they’re satisfied with their job compared to just 60% amongst all respondents.
82% of daily GenAI users believe GenAI will improve efficiency at work.
75% of daily GenAI users believe GenAI will increase their salary and job security.

🤖 Empowering Employees to Innovate with GenAI

Employees must be given the freedom to experiment and iterate with GenAI to unlock its full potential.
Upskilling everyone on GenAI, regardless of industry or role, can help prepare workers for the impact of AI.
Leaders should lead by example by using GenAI daily and coaching workers on how to use it effectively.

🔍 Building Trust and Confidence in GenAI

Establishing clear governance, guidelines, and training on responsible AI use is critical to instill confidence.
Transparency about the design, data, and algorithms used in AI systems can help address concerns about bias.
Creating channels for employee feedback on AI systems can help identify and address issues.

Stuart Bruce

What news topics do Brits think are covered too much and too little?

Research by Yougov reveals half of Britons think sport and US politics get too much coverage, with the public tending to see science and lighthearted stories as underreported on.

The topics that most people say is reported 'about right' are the economy (55%) and perhaps surprisingly UK politics (53%).

Almost half (49%) think science stories are covered too little, with just 3% saying science stories are reported too much. A huge 43% think 'lighthearted stories' are covered too little with just 11% saying they are reported too much.

Stuart Bruce

Professional practice

CEOs turn to podcasts to control their message

Podcasts aren't new. But in recent years they have emerged as an important media channel and alternatives to traditional broadcast and print. This FT article looks at how CEOs and large corporates are increasingly embracing podcasts.

One example is Nicolai Tangen, head of Norway's $1.6tn oil fund, who hosts a podcast 'In Good Company' to give Norwegians a glimpse into the companies their country invests in. He interviews top CEOs like Goldman Sachs' David Solomon, Citi's Jane Fraser, Microsoft's Satya Nadella, and and Elon Musk of X and Tesla.

Another example is Goldman Sachs Exchanges, in which top managers at the bank speak to industry figures about important issues shaping the global economy. It also mentons KPMG’s UK chair, Bina Mehta, who hosts the Pull Up a Chair podcast with other top directors.

Stuart Bruce

Case studies

AI has become the ‘best teammate’ to university students in Sydney

AI is inevitable so the only way companies and organisations can survive and thrive is to adapt and embrace it. This is a fascinating article about the approach taken by the University of Sydney in Australia. It shows how genrative AI can be incorporated into academic life – without the plagiarism – in the belief it will become an intrinsic part of life and work.

Stuart Bruce