Taking into consideration challenges being experienced by public relations practitioners in utilizing artificial intelligence in their work, a veteran in Philippine public relations said the formulation of policies to regulate or ensure that AI is being ethically utilized within the industry is now in the works.

“AI is still a new tool, but various stakeholders within this community are already taking action to formulate policy, a code of ethics, for example, for the use of AI,” said Norman Agatep, president and managing director of Grupo Agatep and chairperson of the 32nd National PR Congress themed ‘Plot Twist’: Unraveling Today’s PR Paradox, during an ambush interview on Friday.

“There’s something that needs to be done, but admittedly, it would take a little more time for us to formulate a policy document that will govern the entire community,” he added.

Agatep said other markets outside the Philippines do not have available rules currently for the use of AI in the PR practice.

Not to be slaves to AI

“I am personally hoping that while AI is here with us, PR practitioners will not be lazy, using AI. We want to encourage younger professionals not to be slaves to AI, but to use it with a humanized approach, striking a balance between technology and humanity. Balance is where you can find creativity and go beyond the algorithms. As long as they are not a slave to technology, then they are good,” he said.

Agatep disclosed that most PR professionals are indeed using AI for research and content writing purposes, as well as media monitoring and sentiment gathering, as it makes their work faster for them.

Despite this, he said that, still, some PR stakeholders are aware that they need to inject a “human spirit” in their jobs.

AI as a weapon for fake news

Meanwhile, in a panel discussion on “Putting a Value on Reputation and Relationships” presided by Meralco vice president and head of corporate communications Joe Zaldarriaga, Toff Rada, head of Corporate Affairs at Maya, said that the evolving phase of technology may be treated as one of the biggest risks in the PR industry.

“All of these AI tools such as Chat GPT, Gemini, etcetera, that enable us to do great things, can also be weaponized to produce fake news, produce videos, and photos that are complete falsehoods,” he said.

It is good to note, however, that the Philippine government has been making strides in fighting fake news, a fact underlined by Presidential Communications Secretary Dave Gomez in his keynote speech during the first day of the 32nd PR Congress.

Importance of reputation

For his part, Zaldarriaga imparted to the PR practitioners the importance of reputation in the industry, which, according to him, is not a by-product, but a strategy.