What type of AI user are you?
Maybe you're an enthusiastic user, a tempered novice or an outspoken detractor... in any case, artificial intelligence triggers a wide range of spontaneous reactions among communicators. Somewhere between myth and science fiction, Cap'Com's latest infographic offers some pointers on how to adopt the best professional stance when it comes to this new realm of exploration. So, are you a cyborg or a centaur when it comes to artificial intelligence?
“We've taken artificial intelligence fully on board and we're putting it into use as soon as possible.” "In our department, we refuse to use it as a content creation tool, because it would create head-on competition with our jobs.” Or else, “Our elected representatives refuse to have anything to do with it.”
Those were just some of the reactions we heard during our meetings with the Cap'Com network. So what if these reactions revealed different profile types when faced with a major innovation? Depending on whether you are more of an integrator or a critic of AI, are you more of a cyborg or a centaur?
Every year, Cap'Com unveils a preview computer graphic ahead of the annual publication of its Cahiers de la communication publique. It’s an opportunity to present public communication in images and documented resources, as well as explaining to your kids or mother-in-law what public communication is all about. In other words, it carries the voice of public communication over beyond those involved in it. Keep an eye on your mailbox, as the 2024 Cahiers are on their way!
We refuse to use AI as a content creation tool.
Artificial intelligence has become a widespread part of our everyday lives over recent years, without us even realising it, whether in self-driving cars or in robots that manage our email, in social networks or in search engines. But generative AI and conversational AI are having a particularly disruptive effect on communication practices, as they challenge professionals' journalistic, graphic and mediation skills.
“If you're a good communicator, you'll become a better communicator. If you're an average communicator, you'll become a good communicator thanks to AI”, is the response of Fabrice Frossard, a digital transformation specialist. The difference will certainly come from a pragmatic and enlightened use of artificial intelligence. And that's exactly what this infographic invites you to do, namely to find your bearings with respect to AI.
Infographic “Are public communicators AI centaurs or cyborgs?”
The terms centaur and cyborg are taken from the study “Field Experimental Evidence of the Effects of AI on Knowledge Worker Productivity and Quality” published by the Harvard Business Review and the Boston Consulting Group in September 2023, involving 753 consultants.
The study found there were two groups that behaved differently.
• “One group of consultants acted like centaurs, like the mythical half-horse half-man creature, dividing up and delegating their solution-creating activities to AI or to themselves.”
• “A second group of consultants behaved more like cyborgs, fully integrating their workflow with AI and continually interacting with the technology.”
The ethical demands of public communication
Yet artificial intelligence is not only disrupting business practices. Public communicators must also take a stand on the responsibility of their actions, in line with public action and the general interest. There are five areas in which social responsibility plays a role in the use they make of artificial intelligence.
• Sovereignty and social responsibility: compliance with the law (French, European): copyright and data privacy
• Environmental responsibility: the servers and data centres needed to use artificial intelligence
• Transparency in the use of artificial intelligence
• Respect for public values and political projects
• Consideration for the human element, relationships and emotions
So do we need to choose one or the other? Or can we be both cyborg and centaur, because artificial intelligence is simply a reality for our future?
Discover our whole collection of infographics (in french)
Public communication infographics show all facets of the profession. There are eight of them, they can be downloaded and shared at will. They easily dress up your office walls.
- Les compétences des communicants publics
- Qu'est-ce que la communication publique ?
- Le travail de fourmi des communicants de petites collectivités
- Les 5 territoires de la communication de crise
- Les 8 postures du communicant zen en période électorale
- Dircom Fighter – Les 1 000 combats de la #compublique
- Magazine VS tweet – Les circuits de validation des principaux outils de la communication publique
