PR Futurist | Stuart Bruce | Purposeful Relations - 🚀 PR Futurist #65 | 🔫 Predictive AI spots misinformation to help prevent a war | Obama on success

Welcome

Get things done to succeed in your career or as a consultant

Barack Obama recently shared some fantastic career advice which actually sums up how we work as a consultancy. It's easy to talk about problems but what he (and clients) really needs is people who know how to do stuff.

That's what Google is doing with AI where it has been working with American Airlines to cut aircraft emissions. We've also got a new AI PR chatbot and a fantastic video editing tool from Microsoft.

And have you heard the one about the PR firm that banned its staff and clients from using AI? Yes, really.

News

Barack Obama says to succeed "learn how to get things done"

I bookmarked this LinkedIn News interview with Barack Obama a while ago, but only just watched it. I bookmarked because he talks about the impact of AI, but what jumped out for me was his career advice to young people.

“The most important advice I give to young people is … just learn how to get stuff done.”

It resonated with me as it applies equally to the approach we take as a consultancy. Too often consultants come in and identify and explain issues and problems, but don't provide solutions. Now often it's because there isn't an easy or complete solution. But that doesn't mean there aren't things that can be done to make it better in some way. We always aim to at least improve it.

You can watch the full video of the interview on LinkedIn or YouTube (the link takes you straight to the quote part of the interview). It's only 15 minutes and is well worth a watch.

Stuart Bruce

AI

Google AI is helping airlines mitigate climate impact

This is an amazing story about how Google and American Airlines used AI to choose routes that minimise the environmental impact of flights. We aren't going to succeed in the climate change war by simply cutting and stopping as the world usually needs at least some of what needs to be cut. The world isn't going to stop flying. That's why it's critical to find innovative technology solutions like this.

Stuart Bruce

PR firm bans staff and clients from using AI content

A US PR firm has a introduced a policy that forbids staff and clients from submitting content created using generative AI. This reminds me of the early days of blogs and social media where myopic companies banned what they didn't understand.

The firm has got this so wrong. It identifies the right concerns and problems, but instead of solving them it has simply given up. Barack Obama wouldn't be impressed at a firm that can't "get things done". I wonder how many clients will have confidence in an advisory firm that gives up on difficult issues so easily?

We're working with clients to help them introduce policies that tackle the many potential problems of AI to enable them to use AI safely, ethically and effectively.

If you're not already well ahead of knowing how AI will impact your business, then why not get in touch?

Photo by Markus Winkler via Pexels

Stuart Bruce

The UK’s hottest early-stage AI startups

Lots of countries are racing to be at the forefront of the AI revolution. In this article PreSeed Now's Martin SFP Bryant covers UK-based start-ups with great potential. They do everything from helping AI figure out what humans really want (a Spice Girls reunion?), new AI chips, discovering new drugs and medicines, AI governance, an AI assistant (yes, another one) and mental health for young people.

Stuart Bruce

CommTech tools

AI is more than just ChatGPT

There are a plethora of new AI tools and services. One that I've been experimenting with is Poe, which lets you access lots of different large language models. These include GPT, Claude, Google PaLM and Llama. The free version provides limited access to some of the AI models, but you can unlock higher versions (e.g. GPT-4 instead of GPT-3.5) and more with a paid subscription.

It also lets you create your own AI chatbot. This is my AIPRFuturist chatbot.

Stuart Bruce

Microsoft Clipchamp video editor to launch for business users

If you mainly use Windows for work you might not have discovered the power of Microsoft Clipchamp. It's been available for a while to users of the consumer version of Microsoft 365, but Microsoft is now adding it to business accounts. It's through its 'Targeted' release program, which means it's gradual (ours doesn't have it yet).

I've already used Clipchamp on my personal account. Clipchamp is an easy to use and powerful video editor which removes the need for third party tools. It has a desktop and in-browser version, multitrack editing timeline, gap remover, trimming, cropping, timing, filters, text, overlays, transitions, green screen and more. It also enables webcam and screed recording directly. It's integrated into Microsoft 365 making it easy to import and edit videos from OneDrive or SharePoint and to share them via Teams, Stream, Outlook and Viva Engage.

Stuart Bruce

Case studies

Predictive AI helps prevent an armed conflict

This is a fascinating case study that shows how predictive AI was used to spot a disinformation campaign and help prevent an armed conflict in Sudan. Yes, you read that right.

The dark side of AI is it makes misinformation and disinformation so much easier. When we're working with clients this is often the part of their crisis communications plan that needs the most updating - or often creating as it isn't tackled directly.

Newswhip was a partner for our Global CommTech Report.

Stuart Bruce

CommTech newswatch

BuzzSumo adds a media database to its content and monitoring features

BuzzSumo appears to be trying to become a one stop shop for media relations. I usually recommend BuzzSumo as a great tool for identifying content themes, sites and people that are most likely to be shared via social media. It also provided monitoring and listening. Its latest addition is a fully-fledged media database with journalists, authors and outlets. Inevitably, it also has AI features and offers "AI powered email pitches".

Stuart Bruce

Research and reports

Key takeaways from the Global CommTech Report

PRophet founder and CEO Aaron Kwittken shares his thoughts on the key takeaways from our Global CommTech Report. PRophet was one of our partners.

Stuart Bruce

Research reveals how valuable news is on Google Search

A new study finds that the value of news on Google Search is far higher than policymakers or publishers think. Google Search accounts for most of Google's $280 billion revenue. The report authors say “a majority of people use aggregators like Google as their first point of contact with the information ecosystem to search for relevant information.” Often, they don’t even click through because their needs are met which means click-through rates won't be captured.

Stuart Bruce

Communities

BBC Newscast uses Discord for online community engagement

The BBC has chosen Discord to host an online community for the audience of its Newscast podcast. Discord is used for real time interactions between the Newscast hosts and their audience. The conversations are already feeding back into on-air editorial choices.

It's an interesting choice as Discord is more often associated with gaming (although I was in a great Discord community for Democrats to discuss the US elections). It's not as 'user friendly' as other community platforms, but the BBC appears to be making it work.

There are a multitude of potential platforms for online communities and it's never a case of one size fits all. Part of what we do when we work with clients on creating and managing online communities is to help them identify the one that will work best for their stakeholders and business objectives.

Stuart Bruce