Preparing Public Relations’ Practitioners for the AI Era: Advancing Pedagogical Principles in Public Relations’ Artificial Intelligence Education

At the forefront of industries profoundly influenced by artificial intelligence (AI), public relations (PRs) are undergoing a transformative revolution. The increasing applications of AI in PRs are driving a demand for proficient practitioners. Recognizing this, PR educational institutions must adapt by delivering tailored AI education. Despite the growing importance of AI, a literature review reveals a lack of a well-designed AI curriculum in PRs. This essay draws insights from recent research on AI value alignment, dialogic communication, and PR ethics, articulating three foundational principles for AI education in PR: authentic dialogue, client value centricity, and legal and ethical considerations. Aligned with these principles, the essay outlines four essential knowledge areas for PR AI education: programming and coding proficiency, AI fundamentals, the retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) system, and the LangChain framework for information security, as well as AI deployment and model optimization. An illustrative syllabus is presented to solidify these concepts. The essay further explores potential future directions and implications of integrating AI into PR education.