President Mahama Urges Ethical Use of AI to Boost African PR Policy Implementation
Speaking in Accra at the closing of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) Knowledge Sharing Conference, President John Dramani Mahama issued a clear brief to communicators: ethics, transparency, and community ownership are the difference between reforms that stick and reforms that stall.
He highlighted AI's two sides. "Artificial intelligence can advance our activities, support climate initiatives, and improve storytelling in our profession. But if abused, it can also spread disinformation on a scale we have never seen before."
The three-day event ran under the theme "Global Realities and Innovative Communication," hosted with the African Public Relations Association (APRA) and the Institute of Public Relations (IPR) Ghana. For PR leaders, the takeaway is straightforward: align technology with values, or lose ground to distrust and misinformation.
Build Africa-Centric Communication Frameworks
President Mahama urged professionals to avoid relying entirely on external models and to design strategies that reflect African values, cultural identity, and local context. Poor communication has historically undermined development projects; he was blunt that enforcement fails without community buy-in.
For PR teams, that means grounding campaigns in local languages, local channels, and local voices. Policy messaging should be co-created with communities, not broadcast at them.
Rebuild Trust With Radical Clarity
Referencing Ghana's reform path, he noted early signs of stabilizing inflation and improving business confidence. The ask of communicators: make progress visible, admit trade-offs, and keep two-way dialogue open.
Trust grows when updates are routine, metrics are public, and feedback loops are real. Treat audiences like participants, not targets.
AI in PR: Guardrails First, Then Scale
AI can accelerate climate communication, content production, and insights-but only with strong safeguards. Without them, misinformation spreads faster than your corrections.
- Policy: Create clear internal AI-use guidelines (content attribution, fact-checking, disclosure).
- Verification: Require human review on AI-generated outputs, especially data, quotes, and images/video.
- Moderation: Deploy misinformation monitoring for high-risk topics and regions.
- Data ethics: Respect privacy laws and consent; avoid scraping or biased datasets.
- Localization: Train language models and prompts for local dialects, norms, and sensitivities.
- Crisis readiness: Pre-build response playbooks for synthetic media incidents (deepfakes, fake statements).
- Disclosure: Label AI-assisted content where it matters for trust and context.
Action Plan for PR Leaders
- Map your critical policies and programs. Define the communication outcomes and the metrics that prove adoption.
- Set up a cross-functional AI ethics council (comms, legal, data, community) to approve use cases.
- Run community roundtables before and after major reforms to secure ownership and refine messaging.
- Publish monthly transparency updates: what changed, why it matters, what's next, and how to engage.
- Train teams on AI literacy, bias, and prompt discipline; make editors accountable for final outputs.
Why This Matters Now
African institutions are defining their voice globally. Responsible tech adoption can amplify that voice, protect local interests, and ensure Africa tells its own story-accurately and at scale.
The mandate from Accra is clear: use AI to serve people, not replace accountability. Lead with ethics, and your campaigns will carry weight beyond the news cycle.
International Public Relations Association (IPRA)
Further learning: If your team needs structured AI upskilling for communications roles, explore practical programs here: AI courses by job.
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