The Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII) has released guidelines to support the use of artificial intelligence (AI) among its members. The guidelines aim to help communications professionals navigate the integration of AI, in particular generative AI, into their work while upholding ethical and professional standards. The guidelines are grounded in the European Code of Professional Conduct in PPR and the International Code of Ethics.
Summary of the guidelines:
- Always review AI-generated content for accuracy, relevance, and potential bias and use human professional judgment to refine AI outputs.
- Be transparent about the use of AI-generated content, especially when it could influence public perception. The PRII recommends disclosing when content has been created using generative AI.
- Recognise both the potential and limitations of AI tools. Test and assess tools before adoption, ensuring they meet organisational cyber and data security needs. Know the supplier, know the model, know the risk exposure.
- Ensure high-quality data inputs to achieve high-quality AI outputs. Check third-party data inputs for quality, completeness, and bias.
- Stay updated on industry standards and ethical concerns through training and seminars. Promote a culture of transparent AI use within teams and organisations.
- Use AI to enhance human efforts. Leverage AI for repetitive tasks, freeing up time for creative and strategic activities.
- Comply with all relevant data protection and privacy regulations. Ensure AI tools do not compromise client or organisational data confidentiality.
- Monitor AI tools for bias that could impact content/outputs and re-enforce stereotypes and exclusionary messaging.
- Understand and respect the intellectual property rights associated with AI-generated content.
- AI can produce information at a speed, scale and quality never seen. It can also (re)produce misinformation and dis-information at speed, scale and to a high quality. Develop crisis communication plans to address AI-related misinformation and disinformation threats to organisations and individuals.
Dr Martina Byrne (pictured), CEO, PRII, said AI offers opportunities, and like all major transformation it also presents practical and ethical challenges. “Considering the ever-increasing number and sophistication of AI tools, it is crucial for communications professionals to use the tech responsibly,” Byrne said. “These guidelines provide a clear framework to ensure that AI is used ethically and effectively, yet innovatively and creatively.”
PRII members can access and download the guidelines on the PRII website.
The PRII AI working group is chaired by PRII president David Geary.
