BYOAI and the future of communication ethics

Communication leaders, at the IPRCCC 2024, deliberated on the evolving role of AI in shaping narratives, amplifying productivity, and addressing concerns around authenticity and intent in corporate storytelling.

The panel featured Atul Sharma, CEO, Ruder Finn India and Head - Middle East; Shailesh Goyal, Director, Simulations PR & Digital Consultancies; Manoj Dhanda, Founder, Utho Cloud; Pranav Kumar, Managing Director, Allison; and Abhilasha Gupta, Head - Global Corporate Communications & Public Affairs, Tech Mahindra. The session was chaired by Madhavi Chaudhary, Independent Consultant.

Sharma started the discussion by drawing a personal parallel to AI’s evolution. Reflecting on a past conversation about how only creative and caregiving professions might remain unaffected by technology, he noted, “It’s not about AI taking your job. It’s about what you’ll do if you don’t have AI.” He emphasised the importance of understanding how to work with the technology rather than fearing its presence. “As long as you know what to do with it, it works beautifully,” he said.

Kumar admitted he was initially sceptical but acknowledged a shift in perception. “Two years ago, I had my doubts, but today AI is everywhere. It’s a lever and an amazing one,” he said. At the same time, he expressed concern over a decline in originality. “People are using AI to write resumes, press releases, and content. So where’s the creativity?” He stressed the need for professionals in communications to be trained in prompt engineering to fully harness AI’s potential. “How to use it is critical,” he added.

Dhanda highlighted AI’s impact from a technological standpoint. “AI is game-changing, not just for content generation but for problem-solving. What used to take hours now takes minutes,” he shared. He also pointed to AI’s role in building complex software and systems previously unimaginable without human effort. However, he noted that questions around authenticity, ethics, and privacy will continue to dominate the AI discourse for the foreseeable future.

Goyal reflected on the improved quality of content being produced with AI but warned against overlooking the human element. “The important thing is not who created it, but why it was created. That intent brings connection,” he said. While he recognised AI’s permanence, he emphasised the irreplaceable value of human emotion and the communicator’s role as a validator.

Taking the session forward, Chaudhary raised concerns around the ease of AI-generated content and its impact on productivity. “It’s all just a click away now, even WhatsApp messages are AI-written. So where is that authentic line? How do we draw it in an AI-generated age?” she asked.

Sharma responded by comparing AI to the industrial revolution, advocating for strategic use. “Move all the boring tasks to AI and keep all the interesting, creative work to yourself,” he advised. He stressed that reporting and analysis could be delegated to AI, while campaign creation and client counsel should remain human-led to preserve authenticity.

Building on Sharma’s point, Gupta elaborated on the definition of authenticity in a brand context. “Today, authentic is not just accurate. It’s about intent. It’s about the tonality, the context, the place you're coming from,” she said. Even when organisations err, she noted, transparency and good intent help retain trust.

Kumar reiterated his concerns over creativity erosion. “It’s probably a creativity killer. Humans aren’t used to receiving content from machines,” he remarked. He discussed how AI can aid iterative content, such as blogs, through private GPT environments, but noted that the resonance and emotional depth often fall short. “You have to filter it, does it have the right tone and sentiment?” he said, adding that the human must always remain in charge.

He also underscored the importance of transparency, especially with misinformation and bias. “Nobody’s figured out AI yet, not even Apple. But if used wisely, it’s going to be a tremendous tool for all of us,” Kumar concluded.

Continuing the dialogue on AI’s implications in communications, the panel delved deeper into concerns of originality, ethical boundaries, and the role of intent in AI-assisted storytelling.

Chaudhary posed a critical question on sameness, observing, “Even if we prompt ChatGPT multiple times to personalise content as per our briefs, the database remains the same. Someone else in another organisation could be using the exact same words. How do we ensure our campaigns don’t become repetitive or mundane?”

Responding to this, Kumar pointed to the value of discernment and discretion. “It comes down to intent. We use tools to check plagiarism and to see what percentage of the copy is AI-generated. For more discerning audiences, it's often obvious when a press release draft is entirely AI-written,” he said. He shared a personal example, noting, “I use Grammarly a lot for my emails, but more than half the time I don’t go with its suggestions as it changes my tone. That’s not how I speak, so I discard it.”

Chaudhary followed up by asking how AI could contribute to creating authentic narratives while mitigating risks. Dhanda noted that the answer lies in how the models are trained. “You can train AI using your own content: emails, documents, your tone of voice. Once that’s done, AI can act like a genie. You ask, and it delivers within seconds,” he explained. He also observed that minor imperfections, like spelling errors, can sometimes lend authenticity. “If your content has spelling mistakes, it might actually work better. People will feel it’s not AI-generated.”

Chaudhary added a dose of humour, remarking, “We should start making mistakes to make it look human.”

Next Goyal noted that AI’s true contribution lies in its scale and its ability to bring in multiple perspectives from diverse sources. “What AI can do today in education, healthcare, manufacturing is phenomenal. It’s taken Industry 4.0 into what’s now being called Industry 5.0,” he said.

Sharing a personal anecdote, he revealed, “Just yesterday, I used AI for a thank-you note. It took me five iterations, but what I ended up with was fantastic. My old self would’ve taken half a day to write that.”

When the conversation turned to ethical guardrails for AI, Sharma offered a candid reflection on the current landscape. “A large chunk of AI adoption today is driven by individual use, and not organisational investment,” he said. Comparing it to the ‘BYOB’ culture, he quipped, “This is BYOAI (Bring Your Own AI). Some associate just gets up one day and starts using it to ease their job. There are no guardrails.”

He stressed the need for agencies to invest in AI infrastructure and create structured frameworks. “Let’s make sure that in three years, our 120 people are AI-enabled. That’s what will make it ethical, structured, and creative,” he said.

Gupta offered a sharp reminder that AI should be treated as a tool, not a substitute for human effort. “AI is not doing our job. It’s helping us do our job better,” she said. She emphasised transparency as a core principle. “We have to be clear with our audience that AI was used and explain how and why.”

She further highlighted the need for data privacy, consent, and personal accountability in communication. “Once you start lifting and placing AI-generated press releases as-is, you stop being accountable to your audience,” she cautioned. “Human empathy and intervention cannot be displaced.”

Adding to the conversation, Kumar pointed out the need for attribution and clarity on sources. “When we blend original content with AI-generated material, disclosure becomes essential, especially for ads or publicity content,” he said.

He also touched on the role of earned media in feeding accurate data into LLMs. “It’s up to us in communications to check for disinformation, bias, and ensure the veracity of AI-generated content.”

Closing the discussion, Goyal reflected on the tension between automation and emotion. “AI is mechanical and monotonous. We need to bring emotion and human honesty into our content,” he said. He also raised concerns about the rising volume of fake content, noting, “Differentiating real from fake is becoming increasingly difficult. We must draw a boundary and be upfront whenever AI has been used.”