Can ethics and AI go hand in hand?

In the current tech climate, almost all PR companies will be using GenAI daily to aid with the monotonous tasks that used to drag on for hours. But with the rapid increase in AI development and blurry guidelines on AI use, how can we ensure that our AI use is ethical?

The recent boom in AI growth has been hard to ignore, and if you’re not using AI to make your workload easier right now, then you’re probably at a disadvantage. GenAI can decrease your to-do list significantly, whether it’s used for content creation, social media automation or even drafting lengthy emails. In fact, the way that LLM’s are trained makes it ideal for translation and localisation. Its understanding of human language globally can allow your PR work to have a much larger media outreach, with personalisation at scale.

Sustainability concerns & AI hallucinations

Focusing solely on the benefits of AI use can become very easy, but as analytical PR individuals, a balanced and big-picture mindset must always take precedence. 

AI models need a staggering amount of water and energy to be trained and to function, and stats show that by 2026, data centres are expected to rise to the fifth largest electricity consumer in the world. Researchers estimate that a single ChatGPT query consumes about five times more electricity than a simple web search, now multiply that by the number of queries per day… and that’s a lot of energy being used.

It's probably also come to your attention that AI is not always correct. In fact, AI ‘hallucinations’ recently cost Deloitte $290,000 in reparations after submitting a government report filled with errors and falsified quotes, that’s quite a hefty sum which could have been prevented by being vigilant and not mindlessly trusting AI.

Some argue GenAI is also fuelling the loss of human authenticity and creativity, regurgitating the remnants of work that someone would have spent hours poring over and creating.

Setting a good standard for ethical AI use

To ensure that your work stands out in a sea of AI slop, the role of human judgement becomes essential. Quality checks and a keen human eye can protect your company when using AI. Staying vigilant about quality control is a PR must.

PR industry bodies provide helpful guides on staying ethical while using AI, for example the CIPR’s guide highlights data protection and privacy as a main concern.

It’s vital to be aware of what we put into an AI model. Inputting sensitive data into a GenAI model gives ownership to the LLM rather than you. So be careful and considered about what data you input – if you wouldn't share the information with an unknown person then don't put it into AI.

Sustainable AI companies

It’s vital to be conscious of which AI companies we are supporting and be intentional in our use of AI. Meaningless AI prompts become wasted energy, so ensuring a calculated mindset when asking AI to complete tasks can significantly reduce your company’s energy footprint.

Another factor to think about if you are environmentally conscious is supporting companies with sustainability at the heart of their business. It may be a surprise that there actually are AI models made by environmentally conscious companies. While no AI model will ever truly be environmentally sustainable, some companies are more ethical than others. My current pick is Ecosia’s new AI chatbot, made by a company with the environment as it’s driving force.

The development of AI looks to grow exponentially in the future. So, while individuals fight to keep up with new technology demands, remember there is still the potential for AI and ethics to go hand in hand. Being intentional in what we use AI for, and ensuring that we support companies that are pioneering for more sustainable developments in the AI sphere, will help to uphold ethical AI use in PR.

Alice Blackie is a PR Intern at Fair Communications. For more information visit: faircommunications.co.uk

*Full post written by a human.