There is no need to shy away from innovation and change, but clear legal regulations that will define sources must be adopted as soon as possible. While politicians who lack expertise in the field of AI selectively involve certain expert groups, artificial intelligence is transforming people and the way they do business at the speed of light. Will humans serve artificial intelligence – which is already taking over part of human knowledge – or will artificial intelligence remain in service of humans?
We will find out soon enough. Communication management, which shapes and directs communication messages in both diplomacy and the economy, is also facing a crisis due to insufficiently defined and vague frameworks in the field of artificial intelligence. As a result, never before has there been such an abundance of fake news. Despite enormous investments in cyber security, primarily aimed at preventing cyber-attacks and fraudulent emails, significant room remains for the spread and dominance of misinformation.
At the 23rd International PRO PR Conference, to be held from 26 to 28 March at the Hilton Hotel in Podgorica, Montenegro, leading international and regional experts will address these issues. Tarik Meziani, Head of the Media Operations Unit at the Council of the European Union, will deliver a keynote address on the impact of artificial intelligence on public communication.
As part of the PR Talk format, participants will include Prof. Justin Green, President and CEO of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management (Ireland); Sanja Ćalasan, CEO of Trebjesa AD (Molson Coors Beverage Company), Montenegro; Martin Leberle, CEO of NLB Banka AD Podgorica; Svetlana Vuksanović, CEO of Philip Morris Montenegro; and Nina Drakić, President of the Chamber of Economy of Montenegro.
Special attention will be given to crisis communication and fake news. These topics will be addressed by Lorenzo Brufani, Founder and Director of Competence Communication (Italy), and Petra Bezjak Cirman, Director of the Government Communication Office of the Republic of Slovenia, who will present Slovenia’s national anti-disinformation campaign.
The conference will also feature the recently signed Roman Declaration of Green Communication Responsibility, signed on 28 January in Rome, further underscoring the importance of responsible and sustainable communication. Green and transparent communication itself represents a communication crisis, largely due to the phenomenon of greenwashing. Greenwashing is the practice where a company, institution, or organization creates the impression of environmental responsibility, even though its actual operations do not substantiate such claims. In other words, it is more a communication strategy than genuine sustainability.
Despite global shifts promoting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria in business operations, many key questions remain unresolved, as policies in this area are often divided due to the interests of profit-driven groups. Some continents and countries have not even begun this process; some refuse to initiate it; others are unwilling to comply with it, while many individuals within organizations are not even aware of what it entails. One question largely remains unanswered: what is the specific responsibility of communication professionals in shaping environmental claims, narratives, and decisions?
Under the auspices of the World Innovation and Change Management Institute (WICMI), we launched the Roman Declaration on Green Communication Responsibility precisely to address this question. The Declaration establishes a shared ethical and professional framework for how green communication should be designed, implemented, and evaluated. Every “green” decision depends on communication. Every sustainability commitment is interpreted, amplified, or challenged by the way it is communicated. That is precisely why responsibility in communication cannot be optional.
Recognizing that the role of communication is to inform but also to manipulate, we must be aware that individuals and communication teams stand behind every crisis. The matter of the crisis of communication management has long surpassed ethical boundaries, while interest groups operate through communication messages faster than ever before.
Communication literacy among young people has never been more alarming, as many struggle to distinguish fake news from credible information. For this reason, additional investment in the development of media literacy is essential.
In this day and age, communication crisis is just as present in diplomacy as it is elsewhere. Many question the purpose of the United Nations and how many companies truly understand the Sustainable Development Goals. Young people, addicted to social media, are disconnected from reality – full of confidence but lacking experience and skills – yet they are supposed to become the new leaders of communication processes. Crises have always existed and always will, but if humans do not protect each other at this moment, if a global reset of questions and new rules is not undertaken, communication will be reduced solely to crisis communication.
In its 23 years, the PRO PR Conference, , has always been thematically ahead of others, and this year it will again bring together over 220 participants – leaders in communications – who will provide their insights.