LONDON — The Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) has launched a consultation of agency and in-house practitioners as the first step towards developing a green paper to support the industry in the responsible and effective use of AI.

The organisation is inviting PR and communications professionals to take part in a short survey to ensure its guidance effectively addresses the challenges and opportunities of AI for the industry.

Areas covered in the survey include AI leadership and accountability, AI policy, ethical standards and compliance, human oversight and bias mitigation, environmental impact, client consent, vendor management, data governance, training and AI literacy, and use of AI in incident response and stakeholder engagement. 

PRCA interim CEO Sarah Waddington – who took up the post in January –  told PRovoke Media: “It’s really clear that AI is a transformative force and that the public relations and public affairs industry is working hard to get to grips with this. However, when things move at pace, it’s easy to prioritise effectiveness gains over regulation and ethics, and to overlook the environmental impact that new technologies can bring. The question has to be –  efficiency at what cost? Equally, we need to consider issues related to the recruitment and development of future talent.

“As the leaders of the PRCA’s new Large Agency Forum have made clear, we need to be leading discussions on the legal and ethical implications of AI with clients and be intentional about shaping its future. I would urge as many professionals as possible to complete the survey to give us meaningful data to work with. This will enable us to create guidance to benefit everyone.”

The survey is open until 9 May 2025. All responses are anonymous and will only be used to inform the green paper, set to be published in June.

Complete the agency survey here.
Complete the in-house survey here.