Razor PR, M&C Saatchi Group South Africa’s public relations, strategic communications and reputation management agency, has announced the launch of South Africa’s first AI Governance Framework and Risk Assessment Model.
“The new tools have been developed to address the very real gap in ethical management and implementation of AI in the creative industries. The use of AI has accelerated quickly over the last year, but what has not kept pace is the management of ethics, governance and risk that support the implementation of this in the work we undertake for our clients,” said Chris Lazley, Partner & Executive Creative Director at Razor.
“Razor is committed to lift the quality of work coming out of our PR as a profession, not just the work it supports clients on. It’s vital that we as an industry stand up around key issues and themes that in effect have an existential impact on our future. Setting a new standard for responsible AI utilisation in the communications industry is not just a consideration – it’s the right thing to do. Our clients charge us with managing reputation and we as an industry need to meet them with the same level of trust and candour in an ever-evolving landscape of artificial intelligence,” said Dustin Chick, Partner & Managing Director at Razor.
Razor’s new policy will serve as a compass, guiding the agency and its clients towards ethical and effective AI implementation. It has already been included into the contracts of all Razor’s people and into the master agreements that govern the relationship Razor has with its clients.
“While Ai offers a wide range of opportunities across industries, it also presents complex risks. These risks include the spreading of mis- and dis-information —a growing concern within the PR industry — as well as data privacy issues. Razor’s AI Governance Framework anticipates and mitigates these potential challenges in order to protect its clients’ reputations and build trust within the industry and the public,” said Lazley.
“At the heart of the policy is a principles-based approach, which empowers professionals to make informed and ethical decisions. This is guided by eight interconnected principles that ensure the ethical use of AI, including prioritising human needs, maintaining accountability, and fostering transparency,” he said.
In addition, a risk modelled rubric has been developed as a practical tool for translating these values into actionable guidelines and benchmarks. This rubric takes the form of a series of yes/no questions related to the use of a specific AI tool, in turn generating a risk rating from low to high depending on the answers.
“Our AI Governance Framework is rooted in a commitment to harnessing the power of AI to help in our mission of fostering powerful conversations, while safeguarding human-centric values,” said Jacques Burger, Founding Partner & Group CEO for the M&C Saatchi Group in South Africa. “In making it open-source, we want to proactively addresses the multifaceted risks associated with AI by emphasising transparency, accountability, comprehension, responsibility, sustainability, and privacy in our industry. By putting these principles into practice, we aim to lead by example and ensure that AI technologies are used responsibly and ethically.”