✅ Monday briefing: A new #PRstack book will review AI in PR tools
A week in management, media and public relations
Watch out for a new #PRstack book due to be published in early November by the #FuturePRoof community. It describes how AI is used in marketing, media and public relations and how to incorporate it into your workflow.
The new #PRstack book has been crowdsourced from developers and practitioners and includes an overview of more than 20 individual AI tools and platforms.
Sarah Waddington CBE founded #FuturePRoof in 2015 to promote the role of public relations as a management discipline. This will be the sixth crowdsourced project and seventh book.
#PRstack is a community developed by Frederik Vincx and myself. It has been inactive since 2015 but previously published two guides to tools in public relations.
Have an excellent week.
Artificial intelligence
🤖 UNBUNDLING AI: ChatGPT and other large language models can theoretically do anything, but their outputs may be erroneous or not solve the right problem. We must think carefully about best utilising these models by unbundling their general capabilities into specialised, purpose-built interfaces and workflows. Source: Ben Evans.
📺 BBC AI CAUTION: The BBC has outlined principles to guide its use of generative AI, including acting in the public interest, prioritising human creativity, and transparency. It plans to start projects exploring AI in content creation and operations while working to address risks like disinformation and copyright issues. Source: BBC.
Management
🌹 LABOUR LISTENS: The Labour Party's first SME Sunday event featured MPs actively listening during roundtable discussions on issues facing business. The success of the event will depend on how Labour uses the knowledge captured to formulate credible policies. Source Sarah Waddington
🪨 FOSSIL FUELED: Clean Creatives' latest report reveals a record 500 fossil fuel advertising and public relations contracts in 2022-2023 despite scientific consensus on the dangers of fossil fuel disinformation. The report shows major agencies like WPP, Omnicom, and Edelman working against climate goals by promoting fossil fuels. Source: Clean Creatives.
🧑🏫️ INDUSTRY LECTURE: UN public relations leader Melissa Fleming provided insights into communicating accurately and effectively in the digital age at the CIPR International Maggie Nally Lecture. “Now more than ever, the world needs communications professionals committed to truth, empathy and the greater good,” she said. Source: Wadds Inc.
🚨 VANDALS EVOLVE: #BrandVandals, published ten years ago, told how organisations can build a reputational defence through actions and communications. However, it failed to foresee the extent to which bad actors to corrupt would use social media as a channel for misinformation. Source: Wadds Inc.
🚇 TUBE TRAUMA: Sarah de Lagarde, a public relations executive at asset manager Janus Henderson, fell between a train and a platform at a London Underground station, suffering traumatic injuries, despite her calls for help, it took over an hour before she was rescued. The incident raises concerns about safety procedures and gaps in platforms on the London Underground. Source: Financial Times.
Social media
📰 HEADLINES STRIPPED: X, formerly Twitter, has removed headlines for links shared on its platform and now shows a thumbnail image and URL. It aims to keep users on the platform after Elon Musk touted X as an alternative to “legacy media propaganda”. Source: Forbes.
🐦 QUITTING TWITTER: Elon Musk's changes at Twitter incentivise increasingly violent and divisive content by rewarding engagement. Bloomberg technology writer Dave Lee argues that continuing to engage with and use Twitter enables this harmful cycle, so he is stepping away from the platform. Source: Bloomberg.
Tools
🐇 MAGIC STUDIO: A new tool launched by Canva generates images and videos from text prompts using an AI model. Canva also announced a $200 million fund to compensate creators whose designs are used to train its AI models. Source: Canva.
🔍 SWIFT SEO: Taylor Swift joined the list of celebs, including Boris Johnson, Rob Lowe, Gwyneth Paltrow and Harry Styles, who have allegedly weaponised SEO. Conspiracy theorists suggested that her appearance last week at a New York Jets game aimed to push her frequent use of a private jet down search. Source: Vulture.
Thank you to the following community members for sharing and debating stories covered in the newsletter over the last week: Andrew Bruce Smith, Michael Greer, Alan Morrison, and Sarah Waddington CBE.