Want To Make Your Efforts To Be A Good Neighbor A Bit Easier? Ask AI For A Little Help. Here’s How To Get Started.
By Therese Dunphy
As a kid who grew up watching “The Jetsons,” the evolution of technology over the last decade has been thrilling to watch. Video calls, robotic vacuums and digital assistants such as Alexa and Siri bring that vision of the future to life.
The next technology leap, artificial intelligence (AI) via ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot or Google Gemini offers the ability to explore AI and learn how it can enhance our personal and professional lives. While I love being able to sweep or mop my floors while at the office, AI in the workplace has the potential for a much more profound impact. Every week, I use AI to make my community relations efforts more efficient and effective.
Learning the Basics
To better understand how AI may help with your community relations goals, invest some time in learning what options are available to you.
- Want to record and transcribe a community advisory panel meeting? AI meeting assistants, such as OtterAI, can record the discussion and provide a transcript within minutes, including a summary and list of action items.
- Want to know how your company is being discussed on social media or the web? Use a platform such as Brandwatch or Mentionlytics to track mentions, hashtags and keywords, while sentiment analysis detects emotion in those posts.
- Want to monitor and moderate online conversations? AI can identify inappropriate or harmful comments and flag them for removal.
- Want to translate your community relations messages for a Hispanic audience? Google Translate can bridge the language barrier between English and 243 other languages.
- Want to create social media posts more quickly? Work with ChatGPT to craft your message.
Enhancing Productivity
Pick a project and get started. When I started using AI to streamline my work as mayor of a small community, there was certainly a learning curve. I’d been playing with AI for a little while and knew it could be a valuable research tool, but I’d also seen examples of where it went wrong.
Over time, its machine learning capabilities will refine your results and give you cleaner and better responses, but be prepared to work with it and, most importantly, review it before publishing!
One of the best ways to get quality results is to carefully craft your prompt. For example, in ChatGPT, the prompt can incorporate a role and a conversational tone. I asked ChatGPT to act as the owner of a family-owned aggregates business and explain in a conversational tone to a quarry neighbor how aggregates are used in everyday life.
This was its response:
“Sure, I’d be happy to explain. You know, aggregates are all around us in our daily lives, even if we don’t always notice them. They’re the crushed stone, gravel and sand that go into making concrete and asphalt.
“Think about the roads we drive on every day – they’re built with a mixture of aggregates and asphalt. The sidewalks we walk on, the foundations of our homes, and even the buildings we work in all rely heavily on concrete made from aggregates.
“Aggregates are also used in water filtration systems, helping to clean the water we drink. They’re in the glass we use for windows, and even in the toothpaste we use every morning, where finely ground silica acts as a mild abrasive.
“In short, aggregates are a crucial part of the infrastructure and products that make modern life possible. It’s one of those things where once you start looking for it, you realize it’s everywhere!”
It took me years in the industry before I would have formed that response. It took ChatGPT about 10 seconds.
Retaining Authenticity
AI can be a productive tool in your community relations arsenal, but it doesn’t replace the human touch. Use it to address a communications challenge, analyze data, and personalize and package content but make sure it is your voice doing the communicating.
I loved Rosie the Robot from “The Jetsons” (in fact, I named my robot vacuum after her), but that’s not the voice I’d want to hear during a dialogue with a local business. Use AI to assist, but not replace your company’s voice.
Therese Dunphy has covered the aggregates industry for nearly 30 years, while also serving multiple roles as a public official. As the owner of Stone Age Communications, she provides communications consulting services to help aggregate producers build stronger relationships within the communities they serve. She can be reached at [email protected].