Strategic AI in Public Relations: An Ethical Imperative

By Ishola N. Ayodele (fimc-CMC)

"AI can generate content, but it can never manufacture integrity. Only relationships earn trust." Ishola Ayodele


According to the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, an astonishing 91 per cent of organisations worldwide now permit the use of AI in communication activities. Yet beneath this impressive adoption lies an uncomfortable truth: fewer than 40 per cent have established any responsible governance framework. Innovation has sprinted ahead; ethics is still catching its breath.

For a profession built on trust, this gap is dangerous. Because public relations does not merely trade in content, it trades in credibility. And credibility, once fractured, is almost impossible to restore.

The real question, therefore, is no longer whether we should use AI. It is whether we can use it without losing our moral compass.

A defining shift came in 2023 when the International Public Relations Association introduced its AI and PR guidelines, followed by the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management’s Venice Pledge, co-signed by institutions including the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations. These were not technical manuals. They were ethical anchors, insisting on transparency, disclosure, human oversight, bias mitigation and protection of confidential information.

Yet principles without practice are powerless.

Admiring ethics from afar is like admiring a baobab tree without ever resting in its shade. Commitment must become culture. Governance must become habit.

Evidence already warns us. Studies show that where AI use outpaces oversight, ethical lapses multiply. A joint industry survey conducted by PRWeek and Boston University found that while most communication teams now deploy AI for innovation, more than half of organisations without governance frameworks reported recurring ethical and reputational risks. Even more troubling, researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology observed that heavy reliance on generative tools can dull human cognition, with participants struggling to recall or emotionally connect with text they had “written” using AI. The result is language that is fluent but emotionally hollow efficient, yet empty.

And empty communication cannot build trust.

This is why the strategic use of AI must transcend novelty and productivity. It must be rooted in what I call Principled Foresight, the discipline of anticipating consequences before deploying capability. It is the fusion of moral imagination with strategic intelligence.

Put simply:
Strategic AI = Principled Foresight (That is, Intelligence guided by conscience).

To operationalise this, I advocate a human-centred framework I call the 3H Model viz 

Head, Heart and Hand.

HEAD: Strategic Thinking and Intelligence
Strategy must begin in the human mind before it ever touches the machine. AI detects patterns; humans discern meaning. Algorithms predict behaviour; professionals interpret context. The communicator must remain the architect, with AI serving only as compass, never captain.

HEART: Human Values, Ethics and Empathy
Data can inform decisions, but only empathy earns trust. Transparency, cultural sensitivity and ethical judgement must frame every AI deployment. In a world of synthetic voices, authenticity becomes the rarest currency. Without moral guardrails, even the smartest tool can destroy reputation faster than it builds it.

HAND: Execution, Co-creation and Action
Here, AI accelerates craft but never replaces conscience. It drafts, tests and optimises; humans refine, humanise and approve. Human-in-the-loop oversight ensures that speed never outruns wisdom. Because when data operates without discernment, reputations suffer the consequences.

Ultimately, the future of public relations will not be written by machines.

It will be shaped by professionals who combine technology with judgement, analytics with empathy, and innovation with responsibility.

This is the philosophy that has guided my own work, from documenting African best practices through PR Case Studies: Mastering the Trade, to mentoring the next generation at the School of Impactful Communication, to advising leaders on what I call Message Engineering: the deliberate design of communication for trust, clarity and measurable outcomes.

Because tools do not transform professions.
Thinking does.
Values do.
Leadership does.

AI may provide the speed.
But only human wisdom can steer the wheel.

And in public relations, wisdom is not optional, it is imperative.

Ishola, N. Ayodele is a distinguished and multiple award-winning strategic communication expert who specializes in ‘Message Engineering’. He helps Organizations, Brands and Leaders Communicate in a way that yields the desired outcome. ishopr2015@gmail.com

 

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