PR 2030: AI adoption has outrun AI readiness
New Transformation Study finds that training, governance and trust are in short supply as AI use tops the list of skills PR practitioners will need over the next three years.
Gone, it seems, are the days when PR practitioners could succeed on their wits, connections and a knack for good storytelling. Responses to the PR 2030 Transformation Study, a collaboration between Earned First, IPR and Ruder Finn examining the future of communications in Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa, indicate that AI literacy and integration has become a core professional requirement in the regions.
The ability to understand, adopt and strategically apply AI tools to communications work is seen as the single most important capability that PR practitioners will need over the next three to five years. AI overshadowed data analytics and measurement, business and strategic skills, adaptability and talent development and overall professional quality. Though all these were seen as important, the capacity for "building with AI", as one respondent termed it, seems set to be a determining factor in the trajectory of individual careers and by extension, functions and consultancies.
As reported in last week's PR 2030 instalment, just 9% of in-house respondents say the function has primary or full responsibility for it, while among agency respondents describing client organisations, 6% report primary responsibility and none report full responsibility. The capability practitioners rank as most critical to their futures is, for now, largely being decided elsewhere in the business.
