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April 24, 2025 17 mins

Natacha Clarac shares her insights about how artificial intelligence is reshaping the landscape of public affairs and lobbying, highlighting both its potential benefits and the ethical responsibilities that come with its use.

She emphasizes that while AI can streamline processes and enhance data analysis, a human touch remains crucial for crafting authentic and impactful messages.

Natacha encourages us to consider how AI can be harnessed responsibly to improve democratic engagement and communication effectiveness. She also talks about the importance of transparency and educating audiences about misinformation.

Key Takeaways

  • Artificial Intelligence is reshaping public affairs strategies, impacting how messages are crafted and communicated.
  • The responsibility of public affairs and PR professionals is to use AI ethically to combat misinformation and enhance democratic processes.
  • Engaging with policymakers and crafting messages requires emotional intelligence that AI cannot replicate.
  • AI can help in data collection and analysis, making workflows more efficient, but it doesn't replace strategic human insights.
  • Transparency about AI usage is crucial to maintain trust and authenticity. (Full disclosure: we use an AI tool to generate these episode notes!)
  • The future of public affairs and lobbying will heavily involve AI, but it will demand a balance between technology and human creativity.

About the Guest

Natacha Clarac is Managing Director & Partner of Athenora Consulting, a leading independent European public affairs firm based in Brussels, and also president of PRGN. She has been a lobbyist for more than 20 years, advocating for clients to contribute to the shaping of public policies through 360 lobbying campaigns. She co-wrote The Golden Rules of Lobbying with Stéphane Desselas and contributed to various collective books about lobbying. Natacha truly believe that lobbying is an essential part of the democratic process and that it must be done with ethics and transparency.

About the Host

Abbie Fink is president of HMA Public Relations in Phoenix, Arizona and a founding member of PRGN. Her marketing communications background includes skills in media relations, digital communications, social media strategies, special event management, crisis communications, community relations, issues management, and marketing promotions for both the private and public sectors, including such industries as healthcare, financial services, professional services, government affairs and tribal affairs, as well as not-for-profit organizations.

PRGN Presents is brought to you by Public Relations Global Network, the world’s local public relations agency. Our co-host and executive producer is Adrian McIntyre with Speed of Story, a B2B communications firm in Phoenix.

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
From the Public RelationsGlobal Network, this is PRGN Presents.
I'm Adrian McIntyre.
And I'm Abbie Fink, presidentof HMA Public Relations in Phoenix,
Arizona and a founding memberof PRGN. With public relations leaders
embedded intoofthecommunitiesweserve,clientshireouragenciesforthe our

(00:22):
agencies for the localknowledge, expertise, spanningsixcontinentsacrosstheworld
Our guests on this bi-weeklypodcast series are all members of
the Public Relations GlobalNetwork. They will discuss such topics
as workplace culture, creativecompensation and succession planning,
the importance ofsustainability and environmental,
social and governanceprograms, crisis communications and

(00:45):
outside of the box thinkingfor growing your business.
For more information aboutPRGN and our members, please visit
prgn.com. And now let's meetour guest for this episode.
Hello, I'm Natacha. I'm theManaging Director of Athenora Consulting,
a lobbying firm based inBrussels, and I'm also the president

(01:08):
of PRGN.
Well, Natacha, I've been sointrigued by this topic. I'm excited
to talk to you becauseartificial intelligence has been
something that we've discussedquite a lot on this podcast. And
it's always been positioned asa value technology, something that
is bringing resources to ourorganizations, and it's providing
an opportunity to get smarterabout particular industries and such.
And we're going to talk todayabout its role in public affairs,
in particular. And it'sinteresting to me as elections at

(01:44):
the end of last year aroundthe world and the impact that something
like AI can have on proactivecommunications, but with the lens
of communicating with policymaking and lobbying and such, it
really adds a new dynamic tothat topic. So to get started, certainlysomethingthathasbeen

(02:07):
importanttoyouintheworkthatyou'redoing,but whereisAIintermsof…isit
avaluablepartofthework thatyoudo?Andwhat is the overallviewof
how tousethisveryimportanttechnologyintheworkthatyou'redoing?reallytogetstarted,it'scertainlysomethingthathasbeenimportanttoyouintheworkthatyou'redoing,butwhereisAIintermsofbeingsucha...isavaluablepartoftheworkthatyoudoandwhatistheoverallviewofhowtousethisveryimportanttechnologyintheworkthatyou'redoing?

(02:32):
Thank you Abbie. You're right.20 24 was election year. More than
2 billion people in 50countries went to vote. And we, as
lobbyist professionals, we hadsome concern about how these new
generative AI models couldpotentially create harmful disinformation
and how they could disruptelections. But a few months later,
we said that there have beensome challenges in terms of artificial
intelligence being misusedduring elections, but there is no
clear evidence that any toolshad a measurable impact on the result
of the election. But thisraises questions on how we work as

(03:23):
public affairs or publicrelations professionals. And this
invites us to stronglystrengthen the authenticity of the
information we use, theauthenticity of the communication
we craft. Because I stronglybelieve that artificial intelligence
is mainly an opportunity toimprove democratic process in society.
It has the power to increasecitizens' engagement, but it's a
shared responsibility tocross-check information and make
sure that as a PR or PAprofessional, we're using this as
a tool to increase trust inthe democracy. At the EU level, I'm

(04:21):
sure you were aware that lastyear, we also crafted EU regulation
to shape what kind ofartificial intelligence tools we
can use. And we also have akind of code of practice about disinformation,
where professionals commit touse self-regulatory standards to
fight against anydisinformation and increase transparency
in the communication we draft.And we see these trends to regulate
artificial intelligence, notonly in the EU, but also worldwide.
We have to make sure, as PRand PA professionals, that we are
proactively using thesecompliance tools and also navigate
those regulations effectively.What do we have to do to address
these new trends in terms ofartificial intelligence? Clearly
it's not just a futuristicconcept. Now, in all our campaigns,
we're using artificialintelligence, and we believe it's
a game changer. But we need tonavigate these ethical lines between

(04:45):
how we use artificialintelligence content and misinformation.
And the responsibility is howwe integrate this tool in our communication

(05:23):
advice to the clients we serve.
One of the things that Ithink, certainly from a public relations
perspective, and obviously inthe public affairs environment, and
the words you used,authenticity and transparency are
so important. But there's thathuman connection that you need to
have in the work you're doing,right? You're meeting with policymakers
and you're meeting with otherinfluencers that are helping shape
conversation. What ishappening with your governmental

(06:06):
body, you know, thatinthatdialogue is such animportant

(06:47):
part ofwhatyoudo?AndoneofthethingsIhavepersonally beenfindingvalueinusingAIandsomeofthetoolsis
inresearchandinfindinginformation.AndIhopethisremainsthecase,therestillhastobeahumanelementtoallofthis,right?Westill needtoinjectourselvesintoallofthisinformation.Andtheideathatwehavethistoolatourdisposal,andinyourcasehavingethicalguidelinesthatarebeingproposedandapproved.Buthowareyouseeing—andmaybeitisn't—isitimprovingtheefficiencyofwhichyouworkwith,youknow,withlobbyiststopolicymakers?Is
itcreatinganaddedlevelofriskintermsofthetypes ofconversations?Orisitlevelingtheplayingfieldalittlebitbecauseweallnowhaveaccesstosomeofthesame
information?

(07:08):
It's true that the landscapeof public affairs and public relations
has been changed by artificialintelligence. It's changed how we
craft communication strategiesand how we execute them. But globally,
a majority of us seeartificial intelligence as an opportunity.
As you said, it speeds up theprocess of collecting data—if they
are not biased—but we can alsoincrease the commitment with the
audience that we want toreach. We can process more information,
and this helps us to havebetter knowledge of a situation.
So I do believe there aresynergies. The fusion of artificial

(07:51):
intelligence and communicationis changing how we are drafting and
crafting our lobbyingstrategy. It's changed the way we
are engaging with theaudience, especially with decision
makers. We can analyze data ina more effective way. We can craft
a narrative based on moreresources. We can make our lobbying
campaigns in a morepersonalized, responsive, impactful
way. But I do believe, as yousaid, that the sense of public relations
lobbying is still very focusedon human touch, maybe emotional intelligence.
I'm not sure the artificialintelligence tools can have this
emotional intelligence that isneeded in our work. So artificial
intelligence will not supplantthe strategic acumen, the relational
skills we have as experts, butwe need to master the tool in order
to make sure that we canprovide to clients the best-in-class
lobbying campaign.

(08:55):
There was a study that cameout recently, and one of the topics
was on AI and what, as publicrelations practitioners, we were
worried about or concernedabout with the advent of AI and its
impact in the work that we'redoing. And there was discussion about
the results of the survey thatthere are some concerns that “AI
is going to take my job.” Andas it was being discussed, there
was also a view that said,“this is an opportunity,” right?
That it may take the job of anindividual that doesn't learn how
to use it correctly, doesn'tunderstand the power and what it
can bring and how it can makewhat we do more efficient, a deeper
dive into the analytics, allof those kind of things. And it's
important and a responsibilityfor those of us to use this in a
smart way, in an ethical,transparent way. I am not a believer
that it will replace any ofus. I think it is just going to require
us to understand it and use itin such a way. But there is a big
responsibility to use it—anduse it correctly—and not buy into
what it can do withmisinformation and disinformation
and utilizing it in a way thatleads conversations away from what
it actually should be. AndIthink where we're seeing this happen
is certainly, and it's notnew, social media has been a place

(09:18):
over the handful of years nowto have very one-sided dialogues,
and you can put content in anyway you want. And it is shaping public

(09:48):
opinion. It is influencingpolicy debate—maybe not the policy
specifically, butconversations. And so, as we have
all this access, it is makingan impact on the work that we're

(10:22):
doing. As a leader in the roleof public affairs and shaping policy,
how are you analyzing all ofthese places where good, strong,

(10:50):
ethical, responsiblecommunicators know that they should
be doing these things? Andthere are a lot of others out there

(11:13):
that are using that sameinformation and not using it for
good. And we're in the middleof trying to educate the difference.

(11:39):
Yeah, you're right. It'spartly based on how we educate citizens
to be critical in how theyhandle information that they see
on social networks or on theInternet. But I do believe that the
core of advocacy campaigns orpublic relations campaigns is still
how we craft messages. Andthis part is very strategic for good
communication. And we cannotbe replaced by artificial intelligence.
Because even if the contentthat’s provided could be great, when
you analyze what it reallymeans, it's sometimes empty of the
sense that we want to bring.If we want to have impactful communication,
we need to dedicate work tocreate and craft messages. We need
to be creative. We need to beclear. We need to be concise. We
need to be consistent. We needto drive compelling communication,
and we need to be credible inwhat we say. AndI do believe that
all those elements cannot becrafted by artificial intelligence.
We need to put some humanintelligence in that. We need to

(12:07):
really understand the missionand the vision of the clients we're
working for. We need strongarguments and calls-for-action. Honestly,

(12:28):
this cannot be drafted byartificial intelligence, because
as long as storytelling willbe critical, we will need this authenticity

(12:49):
to build messaging. And it'sour responsibility, when we advise
our clients, to make sure theymaster the communication and not

(13:11):
just copy-cat or duplicateartificial intelligence generated
content, because this is howyou shape public policy.
That education component is soimportant. And what worries me, I
think, in the AI discussion,whether we're talking about it in
terms of advocacy, or creatingdiscussions regarding policy, or
simply just gatheringinformation for the launch of a new
restaurant, right? I mean, youcan use it for a variety of different
things … is those of us thatare using it in that way understand
the responsibility of whatwe're doing and what we're putting
out there. And we have clientsand organizations that trust us to
understand it and help guidethem. And it's really about those
that don't take thatresponsibility seriously and put
information out that is meantto guide, but may not be being done
in the most forward, honestway. Ibelieve,and you've mentioned

(13:33):
it, and all of the guests onthis podcast that have discussed
AI, we know it's not a trend.It's going to be here for a long

(13:57):
time. It's going to be part ofeverything we do. So how do we plan
for it effectively? How do weuse it appropriately? How do we educate

(14:23):
and make sure it's being done?And really, what will the future
look like in the work thatwe're doing, in your case in particular

(14:46):
with public affairs, but ingeneral with public relations, with
communication strategy? How isthis going to impact the future of
the work we're doing?

(15:08):
It's true that there might befolks outside that can use artificial
intelligence for wrongreasons, but I believe in the creativity
of the human being. And manytools have been created also to fact-check
the information that wasproduced by artificial intelligence
tools. So now we can even seeif content has been created by artificial
intelligence. What we need toeducate people is, first, check their
sources. Second, be verytransparent if they are using, if
we are using, artificialintelligence to just make it very
clear how we use them and alsouse those new tools, like digital
solutions that will help us toverify if this content has been created
by artificial intelligence orby someone. I think as long as we
believe that for goodcommunication to shape public policy,
to shape public opinion, wewill need this emotional connection,
I think our job will be usefulin order to increase the persuasion.
And this artificialintelligence generated content cannot
really make the trick ofdrafting emotional connection.

(16:30):
Thanks for listening to thisepisode of PRGN Presents, brought
to you by the Public RelationsGlobal Network.
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