AI, Ethics, and the Soul of Public Relations
By Ishola N. Ayodele
As the final days of 2025 unfold, the digital landscape hums with unprecedented intensity. Artificial intelligence has not merely entered public relations and communication; it has embedded itself into the profession’s very DNA. From how narratives are conceived and analysed to how messages are amplified and consumed, AI is now inseparable from modern communication practice.
According to the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, an astonishing 91 per cent of organisations worldwide now permit the use of AI in communication activities. Yet behind this impressive adoption lies a sobering truth: only 39.4 per cent of these organisations have implemented any form of responsible AI framework. Innovation has surged ahead; governance has struggled to keep pace.
This imbalance has triggered a quiet but consequential awakening within professional circles, particularly among communication practitioners who understand that trust is the currency of their craft. The central question is no longer avoidable: how do we harness the power of AI without eroding credibility, damaging relationships, or surrendering the ethical soul of public relations?
A significant turning point came in October 2023 when, as reported by Spokespersons Digest, the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) unveiled its Five AI and PR Guidelines. These were not technical instructions; they were ethical anchors. The guidelines emphasised honesty about AI use, transparency through disclosure and attribution, protection of confidential and copyrighted information, rigorous human verification to reduce bias and error, and proactive measures to prevent and correct misinformation.
This ethical momentum deepened in May 2025 when the Global Alliance advanced the conversation at its historic Venice Symposium. There, the Alliance introduced the Seven Responsible AI Guiding Principles, later ratified through the Venice Pledge and co-signed by 24 member organisations, including Nigeria’s Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR). These principles elevated the discourse from how to use AI to how to govern it responsibly.
From an African perspective, these principles resonate with particular urgency.
Ethics must come first. AI must operate within unwavering ethical standards aligned with global professional codes. When AI systems reinforce colonial-era biases or distort African narratives, they corrode trust from within. Communication professionals across the continent must prioritise integrity over hurried innovation.
Human-led governance is equally vital. AI must remain under human oversight, especially in addressing privacy, bias, and disinformation. In environments where data scarcity can produce opaque algorithms, transparency must be as open and accountable as a village elder’s counsel. Governance here implies collective responsibility—ensuring technology respects cultural nuance and diverse stakeholder voices.
Personal and organisational responsibility naturally follows. Practitioners must own AI outputs through diligent fact-checking and continuous learning. In high-stakes media ecosystems, where misinformation can trigger unrest, responsibility demands vigilance and accountability at every stage.
Transparency and openness are non-negotiable. AI involvement must be disclosed clearly. In Africa’s oral and storytelling cultures, this mirrors the griot’s duty to truth: a lie may travel fast, but truth eventually overtakes it. Declaring AI’s role in campaigns is essential to sustaining trust amid the rising threat of deepfakes and synthetic media.
Read Also:
Education and professional development remain foundational. With Africa’s youthful population driving innovation, professional associations must lead structured upskilling efforts, blending global technologies with local wisdom and ethical grounding.
An active global voice is also imperative. African communication professionals must engage international policy forums to advocate for equitable AI governance. The continent must not merely adapt to global rules but help shape them—transforming participation into influence.
Finally, AI must remain human-centred and directed toward the common good. In Africa, this means deploying technology to address unemployment, health inequities, climate resilience, and social inclusion—guided by the spirit of ubuntu, where progress is shared and sustainability is paramount.
Yet principles without practice are powerless.
Both IPRA’s guidelines and the Global Alliance’s principles resemble the baobab tree—vast, ancient, and life-giving. But no one benefits from its shade by admiring it from afar. Responsible AI must move beyond endorsement into daily application, and application begins with internalisation.
The defining question is no longer whether AI will shape public relations—it already has. The real question is whether professionals will shape AI with intention, ethics, and responsibility, or allow it to reshape the profession in ways that erode trust. This is where my 3H Model becomes essential.
At the heart of the 3H Model—first articulated in my July 2025 article “Strategic Use of AI Tools in PR Campaigns and Reputation Management”—is the concept of AI as augmented intention. AI absorbs our communication patterns, magnifies our cognitive biases, and reflects our ethical blind spots. Properly guided, it amplifies creativity and purpose; left unchecked, it erodes trust.
A 2025 PRWeek–Boston University’s survey of 719 professionals found that while 71 per cent use AI for innovation, ethical lapses persist in 55 per cent of firms without governance policies. The 3H Model responds by grounding AI in human essence—recognising that conviction alone does not drive change; internalisation does.
The model rests on three pillars: Head, Heart, and Hand.
The Head represents the mind before the machine. Human intelligence must precede algorithms. AI should draft, not decide. It identifies patterns, but humans assign meaning. As neuroscientist Antonio Damasio reminds us, “We are not thinking machines that feel; we are feeling machines that think.”
The Heart reflects the soul within the system. AI processes data; humans process dignity. Ethical practice emerges through cultural sensitivity, empathy, and transparency. Innovation without cultural awareness is not progress—it is arrogance.
The Hand represents the human in the loop. Execution without accountability is recklessness. The Facebook–Cambridge Analytica scandal was not a technological failure but a human one. AI must support co-creation, not replace judgment.
In essence, the Head plans, the Heart guides, and the Hand executes responsibly.
In conclusion, a principle without practice remains rhetoric. Signing pledges without embedding ethics into daily workflows is an echo without substance. The 3H Model transforms that echo into action, ensuring AI remains an extension of human intention rather than a substitute for human judgment.
The future of public relations will not be written by algorithms. It will be authored by professionals who remember that even the most intelligent tool is only as wise as the human who wields it.
Ishola N. Ayodele is a strategic communication expert and the author of PR Case Studies: Mastering the Trade.
