Our AI Statement
Things that are exciting and new are also a little bit scary.
Publik recognises that our strategic counsel and storytelling are our superpowers, among others. People are at the heart of our work – our own people, our clients and their stakeholders.
We also recognise the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) tools for improving efficiencies and automating repetitive tasks that can be time-consuming. We know that AI can make us more productive and enable us to have more time to provide strategic services; services that only a human can provide. AI is here, and here to stay and grow, so Publik is embracing the opportunity to use it for good.
We also acknowledge that the use of AI can raise ethical challenges and issues around data and personal privacy, security, transparency, accountability, bias and cultural appropriateness. The world is grappling with these challenges, and so it is prudent to use AI tools only after following robust due diligence, which is what we have done at Publik - making sure all tools we use tick the right boxes.
So, we give you our “Publik use of AI” statement. This statement is not our actual AI Policy, but it outlines the key points from our policy and operational procedures. We have also updated our Data Governance Policy to ensure the use of AI at Publik is done in a way that protects our data and IP, and the data and IP of our clients and their stakeholders. These policy and procedural documents relate to both Publik employees and the Publik contractor team.
The key points from our AI Policy are listed below:
Publik’s human value
As mentioned above, our humans have superpowers that AI cannot match.
Also, the businesses and organisations we work with are all unique, with their own stories. Our assessment of AI tools shows they are not where we would want them to be for developing authentic and meaningful creative outputs for clients.
So, Publik’s own creative humans continue to provide bespoke marketing and PR strategies, media and other written content and all final marketing or communications collateral, design or graphics. We also still use real humans in all photography and video.
The AI tools Publik uses
AI tools are used at Publik to improve efficiencies and automate or speed up repetitive tasks, and/or to solve problems, to enable Publik to provide the more strategic and creative services to clients.
If AI is used in any way, there is always a human-AI-human process - always!
AI is already embedded in many standard work tools we, and our clients, have been using for some time, such as the 365 Office suite, Mailchimp, Survey Monkey, Canva, Adobe, Meta, Otter.ai and Sprout Social, for example.
These existing tools and apps, and the new ones we use, are continually changing as AI evolves, and we will also. We continually learn about and evaluate the AI functions within the tools we use, to ensure they tick the boxes outlined in our AI Policy of data protection and security, privacy, copyright, transparency, ethics, cultural appropriateness and bias, and environmental impact.
Clients are told if AI is going to be used in their work, to ensure transparency and trust.
Training in AI tools
The Publik team is trained up in using AI in a number of tools (i.e., the ones above and a few others) and we provide training to clients who also use these tools and want to make the most of their powerful AI functionality.
Protecting data
Publik is cognisant of the laws and regulations relating to AI use. When using AI tools, some information and data are inputted into third-party AI systems to assist us in our productivity. Data, client or company information not already in public domain can be inputted into an AI tool, but only if the AI tool being used has the appropriate level of data protection including not using the data inputted to train the model. Any personal or sensitive data used by AI systems is stored securely, and if necessary, permission obtained by clients to input data into AI systems.
The Publik Data Governance Policy is kept up-to-date with the latest standards and regulations, to ensure comfort with how we collect, store and use data.
And, as further protection of data, employees and contractors must not use personal AI tool accounts or logins for work-related tasks unless explicitly approved by the Publik AI Officer.
Opting in and opting out in the future
IF in the future, Publik evaluates the most appropriate AI system to generate creative outputs, clients can opt into or out of AI being used in the supply of Publik’s services to them. We will discuss this with clients if this kind of use of AI becomes good enough and is safe enough.
Creating comfort with using AI
It is important that our clients are comfortable with any changes to Publik work processes or products.
We will give our clients an opportunity to provide their views on how we work and the tools we use every six-months, recognising the speed with which the technology is evolving.
This 2024 statement is up to date as of May 2025.