Publik use of AI
Things that are exciting and new are also a little bit scary
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Hon Judith Collins (right) hears from Nelsonians involved with the Nelson AI Sandbox about their utilisation of AI, including Emma Thompson from Publik. Photo: Tim Cuff.
Publik recognises that our strategic counsel and storytelling are our superpowers, among others. People are at the heart of our work – our own people, our clients and their stakeholders.
We also recognise the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) tools for improving efficiencies and automating repetitive tasks that can be time-consuming. We know that AI can make us more productive and enable us to have more time to provide strategic services; services that only a human can provide. AI is here, and here to stay and grow, so Publik is embracing the opportunity to use it for good.
We also acknowledge that the use of AI can raise ethical challenges and issues around data and personal privacy, security, transparency, accountability, bias and cultural appropriateness. The world is grappling with these challenges, and so it is prudent to use AI tools only after following robust due diligence, which is what we have done at Publik - making sure all tools we use tick the right boxes.
So, we give you our “Publik use of AI” statement. This statement is supported by an AI Policy and operational procedures and we have updated our Data Governance Policy to ensure the use of AI at Publik is done in a way that protects our data, and the data of our clients and their stakeholders. These policy and procedural documents relate to both Publik employees and the Publik contractor team.
The key points from our AI Policy are listed below:
Publik’s human value
As mentioned above, our humans have superpowers that AI cannot match.
Also, the businesses and organisations we work with are all unique, with their own stories. Our assessment of AI tools shows they are not where we would want them to be for developing authentic and meaningful creative outputs for clients.
So, Publik’s own creative humans continue to provide bespoke marketing and PR strategies, media and other written content and all final marketing or communications collateral, design or graphics. We also still use real humans in all photography and video.
The AI tools Publik uses
AI tools are used at Publik to improve efficiencies and automate or speed up repetitive tasks, to enable Publik to provide the more strategic and creative services to clients.
If AI is used in any way, there is always a human-AI-human process.
The implementation of AI tools in Publik are prioritised based on where it can save time and/or solve problems with those being to:
Improve efficiencies of workflow and processes
Enable efficient production of draft design concepts or mood boards for clients, to guide creative direction
Enable fast video transcripts for use in video editing, prior to a human review and edit
Compile research to guide the development of content, design or other, with all sources cited
Compile research to check if there are any gaps we have not thought of.
AI is already embedded in many standard work tools we, and our clients, have been using for some time, such as the 365 Office suite, Mailchimp, Survey Monkey, Canva, Adobe, Meta, Otter.ai and Sprout Social, for example.
These existing tools and apps, and the new ones we use, are continually changing as AI evolves, and we will also. We continually learn about and evaluate the AI functions within the tools we use, to ensure they tick the boxes outlined in our AI Policy of data protection, privacy, security, ethics, cultural appropriateness and bias.
Clients are told if AI is used in the ways outlined above, (apart from point 1, which is just about admin).
Training in AI tools
The Publik team is trained up in using AI in a number of tools (i.e., the ones above and a few others) and we provide training to clients who also use these tools and want to make the most of their powerful AI functionality.
Protecting data
When using AI tools, some information and data are inputted into third-party AI systems to generate information. We only use third-party AI systems that do not ‘teach’ the AI system how to work, unless the information is wholly anonymised, so that client data cannot be used by others. Additionally, in accordance with our Data Governance Policy, no data, client or company information not already in public domain is inputted into any AI tool in order to generate related information, to further increase data protection.
The Publik Data Governance Policy is also kept up-to-date with the latest standards and regulations, to ensure comfort with how we collect, store and use data.
Opting in and opting out in the future
IF in the future, Publik evaluates the most appropriate AI system to generate creative outputs, clients can opt into or out of AI being used in the supply of Publik’s services to them. We will discuss this with clients if this kind of use of AI becomes good enough.
Creating comfort with using AI
It is important that our clients are comfortable with any changes to Publik work processes or products.
We will give our clients an opportunity to provide their views on how we work and the tools we use every six-months, recognising the speed with which the technology is evolving.
This statement is up to date as of September 2024.