Leveraging AI to Win the War for Influence

My journey in military public affairs began in 2005 as a photographer/ journalist, where I was given a digital camera and a laptop at what felt like the peak of a new digital era. Our ships and many of our long-serving media-type Sailors had previously used darkrooms to print imagery. And now we were sending images of operations literally around the world through email. At one point, I was flown to a ship heading to China to capture the most senior Admiral shaking hands with another senior Chinese Admiral—and I was amazed at how that one photo could travel what felt like the speed of light.

And then came social media. I was at the ‘tactical end’ of the Navy’s launch into that space, as my ship, the USS Normandy, launched a Twitter handle in the midst of the Haiti earthquake response. Twitter became a vibrant platform for real-time information as thousands of people were sharing images expressing the damage and hopes for help. We were able to step into that conversation and effectively share what the U.S. Navy was doing to assist.

Today, we collectively stand at the forefront of a new age – the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

? Unlike previous innovations that focused on platforms or hardware, AI is inherently learning-centric. As one veteran-led company, Prime.ai, aptly puts it, "Replace nothing, Augment Everything."

Our mindset must be on how can we use 'compute power' to seize battle space.

Here's 5 ways we can leverage AI - many of these tools are already being built by startups harnessing this power and its a matter of integrating this into our day-to-day ops:

1. Sentiment Analysis:

My training with the Navy’s program at SDSU involved manually coding sentiments of positive, negative, and neutral – it was a painstaking process! However, AI now enables us to train models to perform sentiment analysis at scale, freeing up valuable time for strategic decision-making.

2. Social Listening Analysis:

With AI-powered tools, we can scan millions of tweets and comments to identify meaningful words and phrases. This capability is essential for detecting disinformation and crafting timely responses to correct misinformation.

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3. Chatbots/Customer Success:

In my experience at the Navy's HR branch, we often faced a barrage of common questions… always the ‘when are we getting beards?’ but also questions about pay and promotion. Implementing AI-powered chatbots to handle routine inquiries allows us to focus on more strategic initiatives, enhancing efficiency and customer satisfaction.

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4. Content Generation:

Traditionally, Navy press releases were straightforward and lacked creativity.

Example: “USS [ship name] is making a port stop in this [European city] to increase security and stability in the region.”

?By leveraging AI, we can expedite the process of drafting press releases, social media posts, and speeches, allowing our specialists to focus on more innovative and impactful communication strategies.

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5. AI in Comms Strategic Planning:

AI tools can assist in identifying target segments, demographics, and channels to effectively reach our audiences with tailored messages. Moving away from the ineffective "spray and pray" approach, AI enables us to refine our communication strategies and maximize impact.

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AI is already reshaping the landscape of public relations. As military PAOs, our ability to adapt and integrate AI technologies will determine our success in staying one step ahead of adversaries. Embracing AI as a force multiplier, we can seize the information battlefield and effectively communicate our mission to the world.