‘AI can't replace professionals’
Founder/Chief Executive Officer, Skot Communications, Tokunboh George-Taylor, has stressed that artificial intelligence (AI) cannot take away the jobs of public relations (PR) professionals, stating that the technology is only an enhancer to the job.
George-Taylor said people are worried about AI taking their jobs whereas it cannot create campaigns.
She stated this in Lagos at a media parley to delve into the vision, mission and values of the company.
“AI cannot look at Nigeria, where we have different socioeconomic groups and say I want to sell this coffee. So there is still a long way to go in terms of AI and PR. There are a lot of speculations around ChatGBT writing your press releases and everything. But the human mind and where we want to get to, I am not sure AI can do that. It only enhances the work.”
The company, which recently acquired Hill+Knowlton Nigeria Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of WPP Scangroup Plc, said it took over the operations based on market and growth opportunities.
According to George-Taylor, Hill+Knowlton strategies still exist – in Kenya, South Africa and some other African countries.
“But they looked at the market dynamics in Nigeria and they felt maybe they should focus on selling off,” she said.
She explained that clients would continue to see more value in their dealings with a touch of digital content.
She said: “The module we use, we don’t work as an agency client; we are part of our clients. So there are some offices we sit in for a few days a week so that we are part of that team. So we are going to have the same quality of service with some added value going a bit more digital for our clients. We would be able to offer clients a more robust service other than PR.”
“We started the process of changing the contract from Hill+Knowlton to Skot and they are all happy to change contracts despite their crazy procurement processes in changing contracts with all of those big companies. We are retaining all our staff and clients 100 per cent. I think that is the most important thing for business continuity.”