Overview: Two Sectors in Transition

Facing change, media and PR are trying to sift the opportunities from the challenges

Gradually, then suddenly

For a sense of AI’s pace, you need only look at the images on this page captured by American business professor and international writer on AI, Ethan Mollick.

Giving an identical prompt at regular intervals to four evolving versions of the AI tool, Midjourney. Mollick asked for a fashion shoot inspired by Van Gogh. The results progressed from “laughable” to impressive. Mollick felt the fourth still needed a human touch, but there was no doubting AI’s evolution and continuing ability to surprise.

Few technologies have promised as much as AI. Globally, the transition to business use remains a work in progress, but as a knowledge worker if you are not using it already experts say you soon will be - or feel uncomfortably left behind.

Every sector is finding its own way. And, for the two at the centre of this report, journalism and public relations, doing so one step at a time.

“As a knowledge worker, if you are not using AI already you soon will be - or feeling uncomfortably left behind.”

Sifting Opportunities from Challenges

1994 all over again

This report was prompted partly by hearing Justin Flitter, founder of AI New Zealand, describe AI’s ability to produce an annual report in hours rather than months. For practical reasons, it turns out acting on this is still some distance away. But the implications are clear, as is the need to work out what is coming next.

“Traditional” AI, has revolutionised areas like medical research by crunching data. But generative AI, like ChatGPT or Midjourney which can create content, gets a lot closer to both sectors in having language, images and communication at its core.

Among leaders and practitioners in both sectors scepticism about AI hype remains real. Yet most are optimistic about its impact. Die in a ditch naysayers appear to have done just that.

“The bit people are missing is that we have been given intelligence in a non-human form. This is a really big deal…It’s like going from a Model T Ford to a Tesla in five years.”- Scott McLiver, PwC’s Asia Pacific Leader in Generative AI

There is concern about job losses, although few see these as imminent or likely. The focus is on efficiency not cost.

Ethical concerns turn largely on ensuring transparency on how AI is being used. As an industry, journalism will push harder for regulatory support. Public relations may need new ways of showing and charging for value.

Madeline Newman, the Executive Director of AI Forum NZ, says AI researchers at New Zealand universities are world standing. But in business, most sources agree we are still getting up to pace. Scott McLiver, PwC’s Asia Pacific AI leader, suggests we have been here before, in 1994, and wondering what the Internet would bring.

“There was a lot of speculation and expectation. But it took a while for the likes of Jeff Bezos to come along and show how it could be applied and change our world.

“The bit people are missing is that we have been given intelligence in a non-human form. This is a really big deal. Up to now no matter how good our tooling, the cognitive piece has always been human. In addition to the emergence of digital intelligence, the speed of advancement is faster than any technology we’ve seen before. It's like going from a Model T Ford to a Tesla in five years.”

The Road Ahead

Three signposts

Whatever we will be driving, three signposts stand out.

• AI gains are real, but so are serious challenges to business models
• Both sectors will need new ways to show value, to hold audiences or justify fees
• Slow-movers risk losing business and staff.

As an industry, journalism will push harder for regulatory support. Public relations may need new ways of showing and charging for value or even farewell the hallowed billable hour.

Strikingly, respondents and interviewees were evenly divided in both sectors about whether or not they felt “well prepared” for AI.

Only one person explicitly expressed concerns about the machines taking over. This fear may linger at the back of minds, but it’s seemingly not one people grapple with during their working day.

Journalism

Making gains where they can, media organisations are also girding for the future

Finding the sweet spot

SINCE APRIL 2023 BusinessDesk has been a frontrunner in declaring AI-generated stories on its home-age. Most are stock exchange announcements which an inhouse ChatGPT-based tool, affectionally known as Bidi, can edit in 45 seconds rather than, as sometimes previously, as many minutes.

Readers get faster updates, reporters more time to research or ask CEOs tough questions for follow-up stories, says Victoria Young, the publication’s editor.

It’s a win: win that comes from being in a “sweet spot,” where subscribers want timely updates and are ready to pay for in-depth research. Outlets serving bigger audiences won’t have the same advantage. But they are also making gains.

At NZME, which owns BusinessDesk, the New Zealand Herald, several radio stations and regional newspapers, Matt Martel, Managing Editor, Audience and Platform Curation, says they are using AI to “ free up reporters to spend more time getting good stories.”

A newspaper executive when the internet first forced the closure of printing presses, Martel knows what a big new technology can do. The focus now, he says, is on process improvement with creative gains to come.

Using a ChatGPT 3.5 tool, the company is using AI to slash editing times, undertake proofing jobs like checking te reo macrons, and match local and global content to style. Soon Herald readers will be able to have every story read to them out loud.

Other targeted gains include faster content management and repurposing of some home page display. While humans continue to determine the top stories, he notes AI is free from unconscious editor bias in allocating content that appeals to them most.

At Stuff, Joanna Norris, Managing Director Masthead Publishing, also cites positive early gains from AI. A trial “hyperlocal” Democracy AI tool, for example, scours previously dense council and official documents to deliver Waikato readers regular roundups.

Useless at 42

Some observers even ponder a future where journalism enjoys a renaissance as audiences abandon oceans of automated content for a human voice. But most also see risks, with overseas experience pointing the way.

A global January 2024 Reuters survey found only 47% of media leaders were confident about journalism’s prospects generally, with many feeling licensing deals with AI platforms would produce little useful money.

A virtual journalist now produces 5% of copy for the tabloid, Express. de. Radio Expres in Slovakia has cloned the voice of a popular presenter so “she” can work day and night. Microsoft was an early mover in both replacing journalists on MSN.com and generating gaffes.

Referencing a story on a young woman found dead, an AI poll invited readers to vote on whether she’d been a victim of murder, accident or suicide. When a former NBA player, Brandon Hunter, died unexpectedly the headline proclaimed him “Useless at 42.”

News avoidance and news fatigue remain global worries. Bloodied by what they see as unfair competition from Google and Meta, media organisations now have a potentially more daunting challenge.

Hyper-personalised content can deliver personalised news updates to customers tailored to their own preferences in content and style. Indeed, Martel has hypothesised a personalised home page populated only by its user’s four favourite stories. “And how, “ he asks, “could anyone possibly monetise that?”

Referencing a story on a young woman found dead, an AI poll invited readers to vote on whether she’d been a victim of murder, accident or suicide. When a former NBA player, Brandon Hunter, died unexpectedly the headline proclaimed him “Useless at 42.”

Pressing on

Most media see copyright related regulatory support as vital, with varying optimism about ongoing government lobbying to address internet challenges.

A related challenge is to local content. Regional journalists know about being swallowed by bigger players. Now this could happen to the country as a whole. Says Madeline Newman: “Who will tell our New Zealand stories? We risk losing our uniqueness and everything that goes with that.”

Optimists hope audiences will value the home grown product, although sectors like fashion know that is no easy road. With so many balls in the air, Stuff’s Norris perhaps echoes a prevailing sentiment, by focusing on what’s in front of her and what can actually be changed.

“You’ve got to keep working with what you have got,” she says, “And keep moving forward.”

“You’ve got to keep working with what you have got. And keep moving forward.”- Joanna Norris, Stuff’s Managing Director Masthead Publishing

Public Relations and Corporate Communications

Disrupting how work gets done, and paid for

The end of the billable hour?

This could become an everyday challenge: A client needs a communication strategy. But instead of asking for research and writing all they want is a quick review of a document produced by ChatGPT.

Chris Galloway, an honorary research associate at Massey University and writer on communications and AI, sees the scenario as an opportunity for a skilled consultant to lead a considered review of the client’s options and best way forward.

At One Plus One Communications, Max Burt, the agency’s General Manager, has already met a similar request, although that was for a writing assignment rather than a strategy, where the humans were able to show superior value.

“You want to feel like you have spotted the moment of change, but it doesn’t really work like that. It just creeps up on you and is the water we are swimming in.”- Max Burt, General Manager at One Plus One Communications.

Reflecting a trend in advertising, however, he can see a future where strategy or insight become mostly rewarded for the implementation work they attract. “If you’re in the type of consultancy where your work lives only on a piece of paper or slide deck then the wheels of progress are coming for you.”

Agencies may need to look harder at the material outputs they are providing on the ground, and consider charging for outcomes rather than time. It could be the end of the billable hour.

True, researching and writing a strategy can bring valuable thinking time. But work volumes and related fees are likely to fall.

Burt is cautious about AI claims for overwhelming overnight change, but he is also in no doubt AI will be the biggest transformation we live through.

“You want to feel like you have spotted the moment of change, but it doesn’t really work like that. It just creeps up on you and becomes the water we are swimming in,” he says.

Jobs, credibility and trust

Globally, January a Muck Rake survey found AI use had more than doubled among public relations professionals, from 28% to 64%, in the previous six months; with 89% of respondents saying it helped them work faster; 74% said their work was better as well.

Concerns turned on likely impacts on jobs, credibility and trust. Some feared content creators would disappear, or that audiences would be overwhelmed in AI noise.

Respondents also worried about an over-reliance on AI tools. One experiment by MIT researchers found most participants didn’t even bother checking AI’s output once it was created for them.

“If you don’t learn how to use it you’re going to become obsolete.”- James Barnett, NZ Super Fund’s Senior Digital Communications Advisor

Susanne Martin, the CEO of PRINZ, the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand, says PRINZ has been developing recommended policies for its members, based on declaring the extent of AI use and keeping humans in the loop. She says the touchstone is that “you should always declare your hand clearly to stakeholders.”

Big change is more likely to come in big organisations, although perhaps not as fast as some AI enthusiasts would like.

Catherine Etheredge, Head of Communications at the NZ Super Fund, sees an AI-produced annual report being turned around in hours as still some way off, given security, accuracy and regulatory concerns.

But with AI playing an expanding role in managing financial data, she also sees it as helping meet a rising demand for content, with more organisations investing in talking directly with their stakeholders.

James Barnett, the Fund’s Senior Digital Communications Advisor, was just back from an IABC (International Association of Business Communicators) conference in Chicago when interviewed and had seen how deeply embedded AI is already.

“If you don’t learn how to use it,” he concluded, “you’re going to become obsolete.”

The State of Play on Key Questions

50/50 ready for AI

Feelings about AI naturally reflect each sector’s scale and priorities.

Said one PR respondent: “my hope is that this will improve the quality of work from image creation for presentations to accurate fact-checking and basic grammar in written documents.”

A media fear was: “Lazy and irresponsible use of AI by some organisations will undermine confidence in the media more widely.”

Most organisations allow employees to use their own AI at work. Justin Flitter calls this BYOAI and says that if done without explicit approval it raises serious questions about security, privacy and intellectual property.

All respondents had an AI policy and an internal AI leader.

Embracing AI

• On a daily basis PR practitioners were more likely to use AI “always” or “often;” journalists more frequently saying “rarely”
• While bigger media companies are using bespoke AI solutions others provide access to third-party solutions only
• Investment in both sectors appears to remain moderate, with most between $5000 and $50,000
• Tailored, secure solutions appear more common in PR; one media organisation reported no organisational use of AI
• PR Respondents were more likely to expect AI to fundamentally change what they do; journalists more likely to see it as a useful tool but not bringing fundamental change
• Both sectors were split 50/50 about feeling well prepared for AI’s impact.

Hopes and fears

• Hopes in both industries turn on greater efficiencies
• PR practitioners look forward to new ways to do things, journalists to more time for quality research and interviews
• Both fear loss of confidence, trust and some job losses, although overwhelmingly AI is seen as an enabler not a replacer.

Related Sectors Showing the Way

Coming ready or not

Businesses like ours didn’t exist till last year

A travel company cuts a customer follow-up process from two hours to 30 seconds. An engineering firm slashes field report writing from a day to minutes.

“Businesses like ours did not exist till last year,” says Dave Howden, CEO and co-founder of Auckland-based SupaHuman.ai.

Yet having launched what he describes as the country’s first and possibly still only specialist AI firm in January his team of 25 staff, who carry PhDs in AI engineering, are now busy radically chopping expectations of just how long traditional tasks should take.

AI’s power, he says, lies in moving on from the tedium of process to unearthing the “gold” of the insights customers were wanting in the first place.

But to make these gains you need to configure a purpose-trained tool with full audit and transparency across your business. Otherwise about 95% of the real value accessible from the likes of ChatGPT are left on the table.

Costs for a medium-sized highly regulated business range from $20,000 to $30,000. But for those with the right need the returns are significant and fast.

“Configuring and engineering algorithms,” he says, “can create the best employee you could possibly have.”

“To make these gains you need to configure a purpose-trained tool with full audit and transparency across your business.”- Dave Howden, CEO SupaHuman.ai.

Irresistible allure

“I don’t know where it’s going but I think it’s pretty cool and I’m just getting on board and seeing where it takes me.”

So far for Steve Ballantyne, founder of Auckland’s Brand-IQ, the AI ride has been rewarding.

Using ChatGPT, Midjourney and Dalle, he is making productivity gains of 200% to 300% in image production.

“Now you can be a startup with very limited budget and still do world-class work to the same quality as Madison Ave,” he says.

Time needed for ideas creation, strategy and image production has dropped from days to hours. Clients get to see concepts faster. Pitches are at a new level.

Everything still needs the human touch, he says. But likening AI to a creative spark, he finds it has an irresistible allure, adding an extra layer of inspiration for designers.

“No model fees, no photography fees, no travel costs, no time-consuming photo shoots, no clichéd stock imagery. And a swift turnaround.”

“Now you can be a startup and still do world-class work to the same quality as Madison Ave.”- Steve Ballantyne, founder of Auckland’s Brand-IQ,

A last word

On the cusp of a very new future

This report started with structured questions and formal interviews, and very soon shifted to capturing a human snapshot. Interviewees are developing AI strategies, but most of these are necessarily new and open-ended. Rather than masterplans, what emerges is a sense of a shared moment on the cusp of a very new future.

Globally, some experts worry about what a new super intelligence surpassing humans might bring. Others predict a slowdown in AI, saying huge breakthroughs will slow or cost too much. Meanwhile AI continues to pull impressive rabbits out of its hat.

In a recent Boston experiment, for example, ChatGPT outperformed doctors in diagnosing a medical condition from patient records – and did even better when left to work without human input. As Ethan Mollick recently wrote: “Every week it seems like AI serves up a new miracle.”

Most experts and interviewees believe AI will bring many more opportunities than challenges. If so, success may depend as much on humans, and our ability to adapt, as on the technology itself.

“Every week it seems like AI serves up a new miracle.”- AI expert and writer Ethan Mollick