AI, crisis comms and hashtags

This week's Friday Five has been guest edited by Lee Lam - Bright Space Specialist Adviser for start-ups and organisational strategy.

Is your newsfeed being created by machines? With the increased paranoia around what AI and ChatGPT are doing to the world, it would be easy to think that communications has become fully automated. Glad to say that isn’t the case and so while one side of the internet worries about machines taking over, the other side is reassuringly covering the very human consequence of being the public eye.

While AI is definitely going to change things around, nobody is really sure how. Arguing over its good or bad intentions is very popular, but to what end – it’s not going anywhere.

The genie is out of the bottle and so the focus turns on how it can be used rather than should it.

However it is used, proceed with caution – too often, businesses jump on the various bandwagons of progress and don’t take any time to think about what strategic significance it could have for their business. How many businesses have allowed ChatGPT to create their material, without a thought for the hallucinations that we know it can have when not properly supervised?

Many business owners worry that they will be left behind in the use of this new technology and so are racing to be a part of the trend – but is that all it is cracked up to be?

1. AI – is it really going to take over the world?

?? Some of the rhetoric around a world with AI is bizarre in its apocalyptic predictions, so here it is great to see a more balanced view. As always, the functionality of new technology is not the problem, but rather the way humans intend to use it. Read more here.

2. When ChatGPT hallucinates

?? If ChatGPT doesn’t know the answer to one of your questions, did you know it makes it up? In this Digital Trends article, it explains that it is a known problem, called hallucinations, and something that you should definitely be double-checking before allowing ChatGPT to get too automated in your business.

3. Hashtag challenges

?? Whether it is the legendary Ice Bucket Challenge or the use of a Sound on TikTok, creating viral moments using hashtag challenges is here to stay and many businesses are now trying to make use of it. The principle is simple – your profile or brand will get visibility by being at the epicentre of a challenge that takes off. While that sounds a great way to get some free visibility, you should still be checking that it makes sense for your brands to be a part of. Here's more.

4. Crisis comms – timing is everything

?? The story surrounding Phillip Schofield leaving ITV has taken up a significant amount of the social media and news outlet bandwidth and there have been statements distributed by a raft of businesses and people who feel caught in the crossfire of the scandal. In this type of situation, the way you manage your communications is critical, for helping you control the narrative and most importantly put your side of the story forward.

Schofield attempted to do this by appearing in an interview with the BBC, but many felt it was too soon for such an interview to be done – the story was still very much evolving. Understandably his team wanted to set the record straight as quickly as possible, but it seems to have set more fuel to the fire and he is now in the position where he is unlikely to have another chance to respond to the coverage about him, leaving him vulnerable to attacks that he cannot defend.

Sometimes the best defence is to wait to understand more about the reaction to the news, and use that time to identify the right message to come out with – for your own mental health if nothing else.

5. Trial by the media – via a court

?? Prince Harry’s case again the Mirror newspaper has been a major story for the whole week and offers a unique opportunity to see the dynamic between public figures and the papers that look to break stories that are in the public interest.

The court case wrestles with how the media covers celebrity news, in particular in relation to hacking private communications for their next scoop. What is really interesting to watch is how they are covering this trial, as they report claims that the techniques used to get the stories are illegal and immoral. They are covering a story essentially about themselves and their own approaches and ethics.

It would seem from some of the opinion pieces out there this week that many are unhappy at being under the microscope and it’s fascinating to watch them try to be objective over a story that is clearly very personal to many of them.

Next week we're interviewing Lee Lam on the topic of communicating with stakeholders in early stage start-ups, where to prioritise time, creating value and brand reputation.?Follow Bright Space on LinkedIn to stay up to date.