Since the release of ChatGPT, the world has entered a new era of generative AI, and the race for developing AI assisted solutions for various business sectors is launched. We have since witnessed even more cutting-edge AI solutions developed by leading tech tycoons like Google and Adobe.
Applications of these complex algorithms vary, from answering customer inquiries to generating original written and visual content, as well as business plans, analytics, and more. These applications are being utilised heavily to revolutionise almost all business sectors, and they are also making a significant impact on the PR and communications industry.
While this impact is already visible in developed markets like the United States, Europe, Japan, and South Korea, the question is how these changes will impact the PR and communications industry in the emerging markets.
Let’s take Egypt for example and discuss the expected impact of AI on the local PR and communications industry here, building on my own expertise in this market.
How AI is being used in the global PR landscape
In order to compare, let’s first shed some light on the use of AI in PR and communications globally. Many professionals think that AI applications were brought into business recently, after the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, but the truth is different.
AI has been heavily used in many applications throughout the past decade, especially those related to data analysis, modelling, and machine learning, in addition to some basic applications like chatbots and predictive responses. Even the social media algorithms which we seek to exploit with our multimedia content are run by AI, which analyses users’ behaviour and then determines which user sees what content.
PR and marketing pros have been relying on AI-assisted analytics to assess their campaigns and build their strategy, as many solutions that help us in monitoring online content and platforms are built on big data analysis conducted using AI.
AI has already enabled us to monitor our clients’ reputation, public sentiment towards their brand, and analyse relevant interactions – but this was all classic AI. The current generative model popularised by ChatGPT is now being used in generating content for campaigns, developing communication strategies, and more.
Challenges to using AI in the local market
Egypt is known to be the largest population in the Arab states, and one of the largest and most developed media and communications markets in the region. However, there are still a lot of challenges facing the industry here.
Being a consumer of technology, and not the innovator, means that we are sometimes late in coming on board, as consumer markets typically adopt new technologies after they are already well-established in the creator market. ChatGPT is an example of this, as it’s not yet available for the local market in Egypt.
Lateness of adoption is not the only issue. Being a consumer also results in our language being a lower priority for these disruptive solutions, as generative AI technologies do not fully support Arabic yet in the same way that they do English.
Such issues create a gap in the availability of and knowledge about these technologies. Additionally, lack of awareness feeds the public fear of being replaced by the machine, which is not a local fear but rather a matter of public concern globally.
To allay these fears, media and PR entities must also develop work models where people and AI can integrate, in order to enhance productivity rather than replace people. These models must place humans in the role of reviewing, analysing, and directing AI generated outputs.
The extensive use of AI has also resulted in fraudulent material being rampant, posing a significant burden to stakeholders due to a lack of data verification and reputation management expertise in the local market.
Media and PR professionals need to collaborate in utilising AI tools in data and news verification. This will help in improving content quality and give PR workers a higher degree of control over the reputation of their clients. In addition to data verification tools, the development of a legal framework is essential to combat deepfakes and dis-information, which is a serious challenge especially in the context of political communications in the local market.
The local legislative framework needs to be developed in light of these advances to ensure responsible and lawful use of these technologies. Only then will we be able to integrate and be competitive in the global market.
Is Egypt’s PR industry uniquely positioned to benefit from AI?
The public relations and media industry in Egypt, like in any other country, can benefit from artificial intelligence (AI) in various ways. Egypt, however, can leverage its unique characteristics and opportunities to maximise the advantages of AI in the industry even more so than most other countries.
The first factor specific to Egypt is a large and young population, along with a growing digital landscape. Egypt has over 100 million people, of which more than half are under the age of 30. Meanwhile, the digital economy is growing rapidly, with internet penetration reaching over 70 percent in 2022. This leads to a growing market for media and PR services consisting of digital native consumers, and a growing pool of Gen Z talent with skills in AI and data science to feed this market.
The second important factor is language processing capability. With a large Arabic-speaking population, Egypt can lead the way in integrating AI technology into natural language processing for Arabic. This presents an opportunity to develop AI tools and solutions specifically tailored to the Arabic language, enabling more accurate sentiment analysis, content generation, and language-based insights for PR and media practitioners.
An additional factor which complements this is the availability of data. Egypt has a large and growing amount of data, which will be essential in training AI models, whether for Arabic language processing and content generation or analysing customer feedback and conducting sentiment analysis.
The final factor is that the Egyptian government is actively interested in fostering AI development and innovation, as clear from initiatives such as forming the National Council for Artificial Intelligence in 2019, being the first Arab and African country to adhere to the OECD AI Principles and launching the Egyptian Charter for Responsible AI earlier this year.
Such initiatives will help in creating a regulatory environment that is conducive to AI research and development and AI adoption and implementation in various industries including PR and media. Combined with Egypt’s growing startup ecosystem, this can lead to the development of novel AI-powered tools and platforms that enhance media monitoring, content creation, data analytics, and audience targeting.
These factors make Egypt an ideal environment for the development and use of AI in the PR and media industry. If we make timely use of these opportunities, Egypt will also be uniquely positioned to feed the markets in the Middle East and Africa. The potential for this increasing demand raises the commercial viability for directing resources towards developing and deploying AI solutions in the local PR and media industry.
What about AI ethics?
The question of what constitutes ethical AI use is complex and requires much deliberation.
In the local context, media professionals have many times fallen victim to AI generated hoaxes, using and referring to them as genuine news content. Events like this place the onus of verification and fact-checking upon all those involved in the development of news content, while also making it the responsibility of those involved in generating and distributing AI-generated content to follow some ethical guidelines.
Additionally, it would be a positive practice to disclose the use of AI in content creation or other parts of the work, which will prevent any misunderstanding among public audiences and deter misuse of the generated content.
We have a long way to go in discussing and developing a code of conduct for the use of AI within the media and PR landscape in Egypt, and this requires a serious discussion among industry professionals and thought leaders.
An open call for comms pros
The AI era isn’t the future anymore, it’s the present. As an emerging country, we must make use of all modern, innovative, and productive solutions. The PR landscape in Egypt faces tough regional competition within the Middle East and North Africa.
While the industry continues to strive, it hasn’t reached its full potential yet, and in order to do so it will have to utilise all modern and creative tools. As the world is moving towards fully AI-assisted work models, the PR industry in Egypt must not only witness the same transformation, but act as a regional leader in the field. This, however, cannot happen without a strong conviction and buy-in from all market players and stakeholders.
The role of AI in this industry is as inevitable as it was of the internet three decades ago, or of social media as we have witnessed in the last two decades. The transformation from print to digital communications did not kill the industry but rather enhanced it. It did not put professionals out of jobs, but rather created new areas of knowledge and expertise.
We need to see the advent of AI in the same light. If we are not proactive, we will be forced to be reactive. The potential impact of addressing and filling this gap in the local industry will be to witness a fully developed, modern, and competitive PR industry in Egypt. The governance of AI under a legal framework will further help in protecting the market from violations and in maintaining quality.
This may very well be the moment for PR pros in Egypt, hand-in-hand with the media, corporate comms, government, and researchers, to start working together on developing a fully integrated framework for using AI applications in disrupting the local and regional industry landscape.