AI Shake-Ups, Solutions and Ethical Standards

In this episode we cover the turmoil at OpenAI, AI vetting PR pitches, and the newly-released Guidelines, Tips, and Best Practices for using AI from PRSA. Let us know what you think at soloprpro.com.

 

Transcript

Karen Swim (00:04):

Thank you for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves, people like me, Michelle Kane, with VoiceMatters and my wonderful co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Hi, Karen, how are you?

Karen Swim, APR (00:20):

Hello, Michelle. I'm doing great. How are you doing?

Michelle Kane (00:24):

Doing well, doing well. We're coming on this episode after Thanksgiving, so we hope all of you had a really terrific holiday with your family and friends and got to relax a little bit and are easing your way into the return to the workplace.

 

Karen Swim, APR

Except this year, was it really Thanksgiving or was it just pre-Christmas? Because in my neighborhood, people skipped right to Christmas before Halloween was even over. So I am surrounded by lit up subdivisions and Christmas lights. Not that they set it all up because the weather was nice, which would be smart, but they actually just pulled the trigger some people in as well. The weather was good. They just go ahead and set up all the outside stuff and then turn it on for Thanksgiving. No, no, no, not this year. We have full on Christmas here in Michigan, and that was before Thanksgiving, long before Thanksgiving. So I'm thinking Thanksgiving is, it's really losing its way.

Michelle Kane (01:35):

Yeah, it is. I mean, thankfully we have parades in football to keep us in check, but it is strange because I consider myself a pretty flexible Gen Xer, but there are certain societal cues that I need and some that I miss. So you have to have, the stuffing has to digest before I pull out the red and the green and the yellow and the blue and all that stuff. Back in the day, the Jerry Lewis telethon final tote had to happen before I would set foot back in my school. None of that happens anymore. It's

Karen Swim, APR (02:09):

Anything happens anymore, and I'm feeling like Thanksgiving is, it's going to go the way of Pluto. It's going to get demoted,

Michelle Kane (02:17):

Although

Karen Swim, APR (02:17):

It's going to come to be known not as Thanksgiving, but as carb loading for Black Friday. I don't know.

Michelle Kane (02:24):

Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, I think everything's faster. I mean, we've seen the online sales early Black Friday, but in a way that's good. I am seeing, I can't give you the list, but it's nice to see that some big box stores are having sanity, sanity has prevailed. They're either not opening on Thanksgiving or they're having relatively, I don't want to say decent, but their hours aren't too wild. But yeah, it's weird days. Weird days. Maybe it speaks to our general anxiety as a society. Let's just get it done.

Karen Swim, APR (03:01):

This could be, was the thought sparked by the great toilet paper raid of 2020? I don't know. Is that where it all started to turn?

Michelle Kane (03:10):

Hey, I don't know. I don't know but that would speak to my inner Girl Scout. Be prepared.

Karen Swim, APR (03:16):

This is true. So why not have Black Friday four weeks ahead of schedule so that the planners and the preppers could make sure that they got everything that they need on sale.

Michelle Kane (03:28):

That's right.

Karen Swim, APR (03:29):

Someone else, before it's all gone.

Michelle Kane (03:31):

I will say if you are still eating your tuna fish from 1999, please don’t.

Well, in the name of prepping, I don't know if this segue is terrible, but there's been some activity. I know this is shocking in the world of AI, artificial intelligence, especially as it touches upon our profession, by the time this hits your podcast queue, not sure where the situation with OpenAI is going to be because it seems to be every day there's something new happening. But recently, the board ousted the chair, and now some of the board, the employees are signing petitions to bring him back. And as someone pointed out on the news today, such an influential change-making organization in the hands of the number of people you can count on two hands, not a great thing.

Karen Swim, APR (04:40):

Well, it's interesting from so many perspectives, it is huge in the world of AI because when there's that type of a shakeup, so Sam Altman, the CEO was ousted, as you said by the board, but then some other key members, I guess left and then they appointed an interim, and then Microsoft hired Sam, but then there was a push to bring Sam back, and Sam I think was part of that push. And the whole thing is just weird.

For users of OpenAI. It does make you take a step back because first of all, when the CEO is ousted by the board, sometimes those are due to concerns that don't speak to the product or the quality, but it does make you pause and wonder if you can trust the product. When there's this level of turmoil at that level, it really does make you think about that. Is this really something that I should continue to use? Can I have faith in it? And AI is so, it's growing so fast and things are changing so quickly, and so it brings a level of hesitancy that I don't think that the company really needed, and who that heck knows where it's all going from here. It's been a day-to-day drama.

Michelle Kane (06:03):

Yeah, it really has. Well, for me, it seemed to come out of nowhere because I'm not exactly paying attention to that company 24/7, but I thought, wait, what? What? Yeah, and what will that mean for the future of AI? But we have also learned that PRSA has a little something to say about the future of AI, at least in our practice. They have released a document on the ethics of using AI in your writing within our industry of public relations, which is a nice thing to have.

Karen Swim, APR (06:39):

That is a great thing to have.

By the way, again, this could change again, but OpenAI named three interim CEOs in three days. So I'm feeling like if you have solely been relying on ChatGPT, you might want to just add some other tools to the mix because this is not giving stability vibes.

Michelle Kane (07:05):

No, no, it is not. But yeah, if you have been wondering or concerned about the ethical use of AI in your everyday practice or as a whole, we will put the link in our show notes. But please do head over to PRSA.org. It is a 10-page document and just lays out potential risks, ethical challenges. Like I said, we're going to put it in our show notes, but it really does lay out the ethical risks and best practices, which is what we all need, because let's face it, this tool is here to stay in so many ways. And as we've said many times on this podcast, it's best to get to know it, get good at it in an ethical manner, because it's really going to help you to not only stand out, but to be competitive as we move forward.

Karen Swim, APR (08:15):

And shout out to Michelle Egan, who is the 2023 PRSA chair, and Mark Dewar, who is the best man ever, I adore Mark and have had the pleasure of serving with Mark. They headed up this effort, and I know that the people behind this are so thoughtful, and it's cool that it doesn't look like you have to log into PRSA. So even if you are not a PRSA member, you should be able to grab this resource, which I think is a thing we do need to pay attention to. And a nice resource, thank you so much PRSA for providing that, for leaving the way as well as to other organizations who have really taken this seriously and outlined some guidelines for communication professionals.

Michelle Kane (09:12):

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And then there's the other blip on the radar of AI, which is pretty significant. I know, Karen, you had discovered there's some developments regarding AI in pitching stories.

Karen Swim, APR (09:30):

Yeah, apparently. So, AI, not human beings, may be reading your pitches, which is a little demoralizing considering how hard we all work to craft those personalized targeted pitches. And so media relations is really becoming very different these days. You even have resources that used to be great for aligning sources and reporters that are now not even being vetted and verified, and I'll go ahead and call them out. It's HARO specifically.

Michelle Kane (10:15):

So that's a thing.

Karen Swim, APR (10:15):

It really has kind of become, I've not really paid attention to HARO's in quite some time because they don't verify the sources. And you do see a lot of content shops and SEO specialists -  nothing wrong with SEO specialists. However, when you are working on behalf of clients, you're looking for something different. You're using HARO as a source to really support your thought leadership efforts. And so some of these publications are not always that, and so you're looking for more editorial. And so that's really, it's just an interesting and somewhat concerning use of AI when you don't have humanity involved in these decisions. But at the same time, I'm seeing a lot of journalists move over to the content side because let's face it, journalists are not really being paid the amount of money that they should for their talent. And I still, I don't know about you, but I still get so excited when I read a piece by a journalist in a publication that really allows them to exercise their craft.

And the writing is so sharp, and sometimes the things are so beautifully written and so deeply investigated and researched that it just still makes me excited. I am also sad that there's not more of that, that is no longer the norm, but it is really exciting when you have journalists at a publication who really get to do what they do best, which is right. Investigate, really present all sides of an issue. I love that. I love it. Whether it's about a societal problem or politics, I just really still enjoy good old fashioned, great writing, and I don't want to see that disappear.

Michelle Kane (12:02):

Right? And it's our loss as a society that is not valued. And I don't know, there's so many moving parts these days and people's lives, we just whizz along. And I don't think people, it's not to say they're ignoring it or that they're making a wrong decision, but guys, well, I know preaching to the choir, but people in general have got to value our journalists and demand it. Demand it. So that's why we say things like, subscribe to your  paper. You may not appreciate it, but then when you realize you don't know what's going on in your community, oh, who used to do that? Oh, that boring old paper that I used to slag off on.

Karen Swim, APR (12:51):

So very true. And journalists are continuing to be under attack, which in 2023, moreso for being truthful, but we need them. We need unbiased professional reporting. But you know what? We also need journalists outside of that realm of really holding us accountable of telling our stories and writing history. They're so good at that. Even I read a journalist tribute to Matthew Perry following his death, and it stuck with me. And I thought, wow, we need people who have this gift, who have this talent, who love this job that they do, who to speak these words in a way that not everyone can speak them. And I don't want to lose that. I'm sorry. And thank God for the Hollywood writers fighting for their right to exist with ai. They're not eliminating ai, but they also were able to bring out their role and fight for their rights and get what they wanted. We can coexist with ai, but I don't want AI to take over.

Michelle Kane (14:13):

Agree, agree. We need to maintain the humanity of it, because if that's lost, what's really, what's the point of our existence? Was it Winston Churchill? Back in World War II. He said, if we don't keep the arts and things alive, then what are we fighting for? So definitely, and we'll put sports writers in there. I’ve got to tell you, sometimes a beautifully written article, like if it's a championship or something, sports writers can make me cry. There is a special romance to sports writing that is often underappreciated.

Karen Swim, APR (15:00):

Completely agree. Completely agree with you. We are not talking about sports broadcasters though, however, who may up their sideline commentary. Can we not talk about that?

Michelle Kane (15:11):

Yes. No, we are not talking about that. No. No, we are not.

Karen Swim, APR (15:17):

We don't talk about Bruno, and we're not talking about sports broadcasters today, but maybe on another day we will address that

Michelle Kane (15:24):

Issue. Agree? Yes. Yes. Keep it real people. You know what? We're going to find out

Karen Swim, APR (15:32):

100%.

Michelle Kane (15:34):

We always, oh my goodness. Well, we wanted to let this digest along with your holiday meals, so we kept it short and sweet today, and we hope you got some value out of this. And if you did, please share it. I was going to see if you did not, what if you did, please do share it around and hit us up at soloprpro.com. Let us know what you want us to talk about. What can we dig into and talk about in a future podcast? But until next time, thanks for listening to That Solo Life.