Welcome
AI gives UK government comms £5.5 million productivity benefits
The UK Government Communication Service has published concrete evidence of the productivity benefits of AI for PR, comms and marketing. The UK government has also finally joined Reddit, one of the top 10 social media apps.
Microsoft's CEO has revealed his innovative way of consuming podcasts, while Microsoft has unveiled a new series of improvements to Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Finally there is still time to book a last minute place to attend the Davos Communications Summit. Stuart will be moderating an expert panel looking at the impact of AI on public relations.
Karen Marshall | Purposeful Relations | Stuart Bruce Associates
News
Why politicians and lobbyists need to embrace LinkedIn
Politico takes an in-depth look at how politicians and lobbyists are using LinkedIn. It's notable that many public affairs professionals haven't yet improved their use of LinkedIn enough to take account of its increased use by MPs and staffers (particularly the new 2024 intake). Stuart was one of the experts asked to provide comment for the article.
Karen Marshall
politico.eu
AI
AI already providing £5.5 million of productivity benefits to UK government comms
The UK Government Communication Service is moving much faster on adopting AI than just about any private sector company. It has developed GCS Assist, an AI tool that uses GCS standards and frameworks to automate more than 50 comms tasks. More than 3,500 of GCS's 7,000 members are now Assist users and it is already delivering productivity benefits of more than £5.5m per annum.
Purposeful Relations is advising arms-length bodies and public sector organisations that can use GCS Assist and Stuart teaches AI to GCS members doing the Advance Leader programme leading to an MSc in Strategic Communication Leadership.
Karen Marshall
linkedin.com
The impact of AI on professional services and consultancy.
A range of expert views and data on how the consulting industry needs to adapt to ensure it embraces the efficiency and effectiveness of AI, while maintaining its expert position.
One thing that's clear is moving too slowly or being reluctant to adopt AI is high risk.
Stuart Bruce
diginomica.com
Can the UK government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan deliver?
The UK government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan is intended to help the country capitalise on AI's £400 billion economic potential. One of the main issues it highlights is under-investment in technology and skills by UK businesses. Technology investment in the UK (8% of revenue) is below the global average (9%) and lower than mnay European countries. Less than one-third of British organisations feel they have the right skills for AI.
Stuart Bruce
diginomica.com
Independent says readers ‘often prefer’ AI created stories to human created stories
Independent UK editor Chloe Hubbard told an audience at Advertising Week in London that stories on its new AI-written summarisation service, Bulletin, often outperform the human-written content on which they are based. The service, uses Google’s Gemini to rewrite regular Independent stories into five to ten bullet points.
AI sceptics in the PR, communications and journalism world often like to rail against the quality of AI writing. And they are right, it's not usually as good as good human writers. But this creative purist perspective misses two critical facts. Firstly, most people aren't good writers, so AI can write better than them. Secondly, lots of people prefer AI-written content.
In the Independent case it is using high quality human content and turning it into content that is more accessible and easily digestible.
Stuart Bruce
pressgazette.co.uk
CommTech tools
Microsoft adds advanced Researcher and Analyst capabilities to Copilot
Microsoft has announced two more significant improvements to Microsoft 365 Copilot. Researcher helps you tackle complex, multi-step research at work—delivering insights with greater quality and accuracy than previously possible. Analyst thinks like a skilled data scientist, so you can go from raw data to insights in minutes.
Researcher combines OpenAI’s deep research model with Microsoft 365 Copilot’s advanced orchestration and deep search capabilities. Researcher can safely and securely include your own proprietary and confidential data and combine it with external sources. It can also leverage third-party data via connectors to enhance its capabilities and provide more comprehensive insights with data from external private sources, such as Salesforce, ServiceNow and Confluence.
Analyst is built on OpenAI’s o3-mini reasoning model and optimised to do advanced data analysis at work, Analyst uses chain-of-thought reasoning to progress through problems iteratively, taking as many steps as necessary to refine its reasoning and provide a high-quality answer that mirrors human analytical thinking.
Stuart Bruce
microsoft.com
Microsoft unveils new Microsoft Security Copilot agents and new protections for AI
One of the barriers to AI adoption is fears and misunderstanding around security. Microsoft already offers some of the most advanced security and privacy for AI and has just announced even more improvements.
Stuart Bruce
microsoft.com
Case studies
This is how MIcrsoft's CEO has conversations with podcasts
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has shared his alternative way of consuming podcasts. He has set the Action Button on his iPhone with Apple CarPlay to activate Microsoft Copilot voice mode. That allows him to easily engage with Microsoft’s AI in the car.
“The best way for me to consume podcasts is not to actually go listen to it but to have a conversation with the transcript on my commute using my Copilot. Who’d have thought?” he said.
“But it is more convenient because of the modality, the fact that I can speak to it, I can interrupt it,” he said. “Think about it, right? This full-duplex conversation which was never possible — that is a fantastic new modality. … There’s no going back.”
Having a conversation with a transcript like this is doable in Microsoft Copilot and other AI tools, particularly if the podcasts are on YouTube, with transcripts.
In Microsoft Copilot, for example, one way would be to start the conversation on a computer in the Edge sidebar before leaving the house, and then continue it in the Copilot app in the car, assuming you’re logged into your account in both places.
Stuart Bruce
geekwire.com
CommTech newswatch
PR and IR Services firm Notified acquired by Equiniti
Shareholder engagement specialist Equiniti (EQ) has agreed to acquire Notified, the global provider of PR and investor relations tools and services, in a $534.5 million deal that will create an "end-to-end" communications and share registry platform.
Stuart Bruce
provokemedia.com
Professional practice
Gartner on unlocking the potential of AI
A Gartner survey has revealed 77% of marketers explore GenAI, but only 44% realise significant benefits. This interview with Andrew Frank, Distinguished VP Analyst, in the Gartner Marketing practice, explores issues such as using AI agents, addressing the challenges of consumer perceptions about AI, as well as balancing ethical, technical, aesthetic, and financial issues.
Stuart Bruce
gartner.com
Rolling Stone's Culture Council on 10 considerations for leadership in the era of AI
The impact of AI in business extends beyond automation and efficiency — it’s also influencing leadership and mentorship. Members of the Rolling Stone Culture Council share their perspectives on technology’s evolving role in leadership, as well as key considerations leaders should be mindful of in the age of AI.
- AI Is a tool to be leveraged by teams
- Only humans can develop work culture
- AI can synthesise expert advice in varied fields
- The focus of leadership has shifted to wisdom-sharing
- People follow people
- Leaders should help employees develop AI skills
- AI shouldn’t make the final call
- AI can streamline workflows, creating time for genuine connection
- Overreliance on AI can lead to depersonalisation
- AI leadership guidance will never replace human interaction
Stuart Bruce
rollingstone.com
Digital and social
UK government joins Reddit in latest improvement to its comms strategy
The government has set up a Reddit account as part of its effort to use more modern forms of media to get cut through. The new Reddit account ‘UKGovNews’ is the latest in a raft of changes implemented by the government’s new communications operation, which includes the New Media Unit created by No10 in November.
Stuart Bruce
politicshome.com
Substack is rolling out a TikTok-like video feed in its app
'Newsletter' platform Substack is continuing its feature creep by adding even more video. It has announced it’s rolling out a scrollable video feed in its app, making it the latest platform to introduce a TikTok-like feed.
Stuart Bruce
techcrunch.com