The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Public Relations Profession in the Arab World - Paper Example

Abstract

In the current technological era, most professions have had to adjust their practice by incorporating information technology platforms into their daily activities. Perhaps, it is not too exaggerating to state that AI algorithms are capable of collecting and analyzing huge real-time data sets within a fraction of a second, thereby largely minimizing the amount of labour input required in conducting these tasks. However, some employees fear that they will lose their jobs once their companies integrate these platforms fully. The public relations industry is not exempted from these algorithms being employed in most organizations worldwide. As elaborated in the literature review, several quarters acknowledge that AI algorithms have been able to improve the efficiency of PR firms across the globe albeit claims from other quarters that replacement of middle-class employees in the agencies will be brought about by the assimilation of this technology. Through a qualitative methodology, specifically a survey of expert opinion from the public relations industry in Dubai, this research will investigate the probable impacts of the AI algorithms on the PR profession across the Arab world within a 6-week timeframe to provide profound insight on whether its adoption is worthwhile or not.

Introduction

In the corporate world, the public relations (PR) profession is an essential tool not only for startups but also established organizations due to the double role it plays in ensuring sustained relationships with the company's clients and building a platform for the sales and marketing team. However, with the predictions that companies will be making huge investments in machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) for the next 3 decades, the PR realm will inevitably be laid open to immense changes or advancements, if we look it from a positive perspective. PR professionals will easily project future trends if they successfully integrate the AI technology in their practice.

However, in recent times, the adoption of AI has instigated hot debates with some quarters arguing that it might completely or substantially phase out human resources in organizations that opt to integrate this technology. A case in point is when you imagine a robot finding its way into a stakeholder's forum and reaches out on one client through email or telephone to deliberate on the newest issues in public relations and lay down the agenda for an imminent strategic report. In an opinion posted by Nahla Nana in the Gulf Marketing Review, she acknowledges that while there is no zero possibility of actualization of the above scenario, human professionals will always be in control of public relations activities stipulated in their occupation descriptions for the conceivable future (Nana, 2018).

The Arab world is on the brink of a considerable digital disruption. Some nations such as Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE are setting the pace in digital consumer charge owing to the increase in the data flow between the Middle East and the outside world by a factor of 150. According to McKinsey.com (2016), digital innovations being utilized by institutions in the Middle East underpin the promising impetus in this area. Some agencies such as Bank Audi, which operates in Lebanon, have commissioned a humanoid robot called Novot that welcomes and escorts clients within the bank's premises in addition to promoting the bank's services and brand. This AI platform elevates customer experiences to a whole new stage, making their outings at Audi's branches instinctive and interactive (McKinsey.com, 2016).

On a slightly different note, according to SAS Institute Inc. (n.d.), the question of how much business value that companies such as Bank Audi can get from AI, their progress in planning for its incorporation and the duration it will take for AI to achieve mainstream traction in the corporate domain are put into consideration when one tries to assess the impacts that this technology will have on most of the business professions.

Machine learning is currently assisting sales and marketing experts maximize clients' data and adding to their professional experiences and insight (Hardison, cited in Cohen 2017). From Hardison's avowal, it can be inferred that what AI has presently achieved is upgrading the profession as opposed to substituting it. 24 months ago, the technology that computed and designed analytic systems was less effectual compared to the current machine learning tools. This indicates how rapidly the AI capacity is changing to suit the growing client and company's demand (Ajani, cited in Cohen 2017).

Incorporation of machine learning will inexorably grow in tandem with current advancements in the computer programming realm. Making reference to the aviation industry, the Researchandmarkets.com (2018) have predicted an upsurge in the robots market value from $3.5billion in 2018 to $12.4billion in 2023, representing a 28.8% growth rate during this 5-year spell. This projected growth is attributed to the high utilization of robotics machinery for corporate and individual purposes such as entertainment and partnership, and the increasing government backing in developing latest technologies. Nevertheless, the lack of consistent policies on averting perils associated with utilizing autonomous robots and unwillingness to implement newer technologies may thwart the growth in artificial intelligence in the robotics market (Researchandmarkets.com, 2018).

Narrowing down to public relations, PR organizations in the Arab nations are yet to fully comprehend the extent of a looming crisis associated with assimilation of AI into their activities. According to Cohen (2017), predicting the scale of damage of the relationship between any company and its clients presents the worst nightmare for PR departments. This can be deduced with reference to the boycott united crisis that began in January 2017 and was still on 9months down the line, whereby, United Airlines could not recognize how severely it was messing up its PR operations. This was partly caused by the inadequacy of the airline's social media monitoring systems (Nowak, 2017).

However, according to Cohen (2017), predicting the extent of any imminent crisis will be greatly enhanced by the integration of AI applications in monitoring systems for customer feedback. Marketers will also have the ability to pool millions of clients' posts and various factors to generate predictions with a high degree of confidence. If data reports show a massive predicament, the PR bureaus will assertively stop pre-ordained posts thereby allowing for implementation of suitable solutions.

The Middle East still lags behind other global regions with regards to AI innovation and supply despite ambitious plans by various countries in the region, such as Qatar and Egypt to fully digitize commercial operations. (McKinsey.com, 2016) stipulate that the gap between digitization among institutions and customer adoption in addition to AI innovation and supply signifies a strong growth potential in the forthcoming years since corporations and their customers are evidently primed and prepared to promptly embrace these algorithms' services. Therefore, a combination of AI services and PR presents an interesting prospect for businesses in the Arab countries, and the world at large, if they seek to improve their customer relations.

This research will seek to evaluate the possible outcomes of the implementation of AI and machine learning technologies to the PR practice in the Arab world with the findings being used to deduce an informed response to whether executing an AI plan in a PR agency is worth the necessary investments made on the IT infrastructure and logistics involved.

Problem Statement

Several international corporations are yet to embrace robotics and machine learning in their daily interactions with customers. Perhaps, their reluctance may be instigated by the anxiety of losing jobs brought about by debates on disruptive technologies. According to Nana (2018), autonomous robots are among the systems that have been labelled as disruptive technologies. The question of whether AI will bring about positive changes to the PR realm rings in most people's minds due to some level of certainty that some agencies may be phased out or employees reduced as a result of the risk posed by this interruption.

Will there be a scenario whereby one will walk into an office room in Dubai, Doha or any other location, only to find human roots performing tasks that would have been done by people? Can these robots cultivate and maintain healthy relations with the company's customers, associates, stakeholders or target audiences? Are the machines capable of conceptualizing and implementing a successful PR campaign? These are among the issues that create a crossroad to deliberations on whether or not to fully assimilate AI technology in the PR practice.

Established businesses in the technology domain such as Facebook, Amazon and Google are setting the pace in incorporation of AI in their PR and marketing tasks. The billions of dollars and thousands of researchers at these companies' disposal are what give them an upper hand in the AI race. Having employed most of the data scientists in the field, only a few talents are left for smaller organizations to hire thereby making it difficult for them to actualize their AI objectives or dreams. Additionally, there arises the need for a functional analytical infrastructure and skills to effectively adopt machine learning and AI in the corporate tasks. IT leaders are, therefore, prompted to pool huge data sets from different sources into a unified, accessible and managed data repository to lay down the basis for the design and execution of a company-wide artificial intelligence strategy. Due to the intricate nature of these logistics, PR personnel need to comprehensively assess the expected outcome of the proposed AI migration to verify whether the returns are worthwhile.

The Significance of the Study

With the rampancy of debates on the adoption of disruptive technologies in the corporate world, there is a need for scholarly intervention to shed more light on the validity of statements made by both proponents and critics of these technologies. Machine learning and artificial intelligence are among the algorithms that have been branded as possible interrupters of the PR domain not only in Arabic countries but also globally. In this line, this research formulates a well-grounded approach to gener...