🚀 PR Futurist #90 🉐 50% grants for AI training 👩🏽 What do top comms leaders think about AI?

Welcome

Don't miss out on your AI training grant

In this issue we highlight yet another report that shows companies are failing to invest in AI training. This is apparent by the fact the UK government has extended the deadline for its £7.4 million AI upskilling fund grants as not enough companies applied. Purposeful Relations is now a registered training provider so can provide AI training that's eligible for a grant.

Stuart has done a deep dive into the PRovoke Influence 100 of the world's most influential in-house communications leaders to see what they really think about AI. He's also appeared on the Comms Dart podcast.

And when it comes to the latest research, we've done a round-up of some of the latest reports.

If you're interested in AI training, then don't delay getting in touch.

News

Time running out to claim your 50% grant for AI training

Your time is running out to claim 50% of the cost of AI training. Purposeful Relations is a UK government approved training supplier so you could claim between £2,500 to £10,000 towards PR and communications specific AI training for your team. You need to apply urgently as the extended deadline is 18 August.

Get in touch today to book your AI training.

Karen Marshall

Six in 10 of the world’s most influential comms leaders think AI is the communications industry’s biggest opportunity

Stuart has done an in-depth analysis of what the PRovoke Influence 100 really think about AI and its impact on the public relations and communications profession. The PRovoke Influence 100 is an annual list of the top 100 most influential in-house communications leaders around the world.

Karen Marshall

Stuart on the Comms Dart podcast

When you've got my face for radio it's a welcome change to do a podcast that's actually a proper audio podcast, without the video.

I sat down with Stephen Davies, the host of the Comms Dart podcast, to chat about a fascinating range of subjects, which yes of course included how the comms profession is or isn't embracing AI. We also talked about other changes because of technology, the golden age of social media, Purposeful Relations's Global CommsTech Report, budget challenges to using tech in comms, comms in the 2024 UK General Election and some advice for those entering the profession.

Stuart Bruce

Photo of Saffiyah Khan facing down far-right demonstrator goes viral

Readers outside the UK might not know that there is rioting and public disorder in many UK towns and cities by far-right thugs.

Rather than focus on the thugs this viral image captures what I'm thinking - a brave young woman being the best of British.

There's also a serious lesson for corporate communicators. The riots were sparked by 'fake news' and a social media frenzy about the perpetrator of a knife attack earlier in the week. There is some debate about if this was disinformation (deliberate) or misinformation (mistake - remember it via the first three letters). This article points to the latter.

Your crisis comms plan needs to take full account of the risks of not only social media, but AI, disinformation and misinformation.

I can't include the image here as it was taken by news photographer Joe Giddens for PA Images and despite it going viral we need to respect copyright. But please take a second to click to see it as you can't fail to be moved.

Stuart Bruce

AI, digital and social

Do you say please and thank you to your AI?

I'm instinctively polite to my technology. I say please and thank you to Alexa and I've started to do the same to Copilot and ChatGPT. It might just be that I'm nice, or maybe it's childhood memories of my Gran giving me a clip around in the ears if I forgot my Ps and Qs.

According to this article in Scientific American it's not just my Gran but there are actually legitimate practical reasons for being polite to AI.

Stuart Bruce

New government reveals it is working on an AI Opportunities Action Plan

It's hard to figure out the new UK government's approach to AI, even for those of us who know and are lucky enough to have discussed it directly with ministers. It's a good thing that the King's Speech didn't feature an AI Bill as rumoured because I don't think ministers are ready to make the best long-term decisions.

A step in the right direction is that Peter Kyle, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, has commissioned an AI Opportunities Action Plan. The plan will identify how AI can drive change, sustained economic growth and improved public services. It will also identify ways to accelerate the use of AI to improve people’s lives by making services better and developing new products.

Kyle has appointed tech entrepreneur Matt Clifford, Chair of Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA), to lead the work.

The government has faced some criticism for shelving £1.3bn of funding promised by the previous government for tech and artificial intelligence (AI) projects. This includes the exascale supercomputer at the University of Edinburgh (one of the world's foremost universities for AI).

However, the reality is more likely to be that the AI Opportunities Action Plan needs to be completed first to ensure the money is invested effectively.

Stuart Bruce

AI for those in the public eye

We're only just beginning to see what's possible with generative AI. Where do the boundaries lie for freedom, creativity, privacy, productivity? You probably remember the viral Pope in a Puffa jacket image. This deep fake AI video depicts not only the Pope in a Puffa jacket but a selection of well-known figures in unexpected attire. Watch the video on LinkedIn.

It's a great illustration of just how powerful this technology is.

Stuart Bruce

FT's Rutherford Hall on the need for AI

The FT's satirical behind the scenes look at the work of Rutherford Hall, critical communications strategist is often amusing. The latest asks shouldn’t we be doing something with AI?

Stuart Bruce

Case studies

What can we learn from the CrowdStrike IT outage?

Media monitoring and intelligence firm CARMA has conducted a fascinating analysis of the earned media coverage around the CrowdStrike global IT outage. It used a mix of AI and human analysis to review more than 80,000 press articles from 162 countries and 89 languages. The research was led by CARMA consultant Gareth Owens who concludes his article with 10 tips for monitoring in a crisis.

Stuart Bruce

Research and reports

Another day, another report about AI training failure

Yet another report has highlighted the failure of companies to train and educate their workforce about AI. This one is the 2024 State of Marketing AI Report, just released by Marketing AI Institute. It found that:

67% of respondents cited lack of education and training as the top barrier to AI adoption in marketing (up from 64% last year).
75% of organisations either offer no AI-focused education for their marketing teams (47%), have it in development (24%), or aren't sure if it exists (4%).
Two-thirds of companies don't have AI governance to protect themselves - 34% have generative AI policies, 29% have AI councils, and 19% have AI roadmaps.

The danger of this isn't just that companies get left behind those that are adopting AI effectively, but that employees will go off-piste and do their own thing with unauthorised and banned tools. This carries massive reputational, legal and financial risks.

Stuart Bruce

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The survey for the ICCO World PR Report 2024-2025 is now open. It is being conducted by Opinium in collaboration with PRovoke Media. If you complete it you stand a chance to win two full passes to the ICCO Global Summit in Istanbul, including flights!

To be eligible for the draw you must complete the survey before 1 September.

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Stuart Bruce

AI could enhance almost two-thirds of UK jobs

Research commissioned by Google estimates 31% of jobs would be insulated from AI and 61% radically transformed by it. You might shrug cynically as it's what you'd expect the owner of DeepMind and major AI developer to say.

The reality behind the figures is that despite the hype only a small number of people and companies are even using AI to improve their work life. This means that those who do use AI effectively get a competitive advantage.

Stuart Bruce

Generative AI in the enterprise

This global study of "enterprise leaders" found that a staggering "96% of organisations expect AI to be a key enabler for their company, showcasing widespread recognition and trust in the capabilities of generative AI."

I'm not entirely convinced by this one as it turns out "enterprise leaders" means "500 executives and AI professionals from diverse sectors".

However, it is yet another study showing AI use is inevitable and that everyone needs to get real and put policies and training in place. Doing nothing is not an option. Experimenting with too little knowledge or expertise is dangerous.

Stuart Bruce

Shadow AI: how employees are leading the charge in AI adoption and putting company data at risk

Talking of danger, if you don't enable your team to use AI safely and effectively then some will be off using it anyway.

Stuart Bruce

CommTech newswatch

PR world smiles wryly as Dow Jones sues Cision for more than $173 million

The news that publisher Dow Jones is suing Cision for Cision's temerity of attempting to get out of a contract it signed has been met by wry smiles by many in the PR and communications community.

Cision is one of many media monitoring companies that is notorious for its strict enforcement of contracts and forcing unwilling customers to remain paying customers. Woe betides those who miss the contract small print about needing to give notice to end contracts well before they actually end to avoid being locked into another year.

To be fair it's not the fault of most of the people at those media monitoring companies, but their greedy venture capital parents. They see monitoring as a cash cow as it's a develop once, sell many times model. That means keeping that recurring revenue no matter what the cost to customer relations.

Stuart Bruce

How to and tips

The BBC Academy Podcast on smartphone journalism

Marc Settle is a BBC Academy trainer for mobile journalism. His XTwitter and Threads accounts often have helpful tips and ideas. This audio only podcast has lots of tips for using your mobile as a broadcast quality camera. He warns it's a bit iPhone based, so as I listen, I'll find out how useful it is for us sensible Android users.

Stuart Bruce