AI ethics are not enough: Public relations, social justice and artificial intelligence

This chapter explores PR’s contribution to society and to social justice in respect of one of the most important debates of our time, the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in everyday life. AI is now interwoven with promotional culture in several ways. First, AI technologies are the speed and power behind digital advertising, which in turn funds the largest digital media platforms. Second, certain categories of AI have become popular tools for generating creative content – from images, animation and video to creative and promotional content. Third, the global technology (tech) sector is a leading spender on promotional activity. For all these reasons, AI and automation has become a subject of ethical concern for promotional professions. However, the rapid and far-reaching transformations wrought by AI underpin our argument that ethics are not enough. Presenting a conceptual map, we suggest that public relations can attend to social justice concerns by adapting its normative roles of contextual intelligence, ‘ethical counsel’ and boundary spanning, thus contributing to a fully functioning society.