There's a gap between knowing AI ethics and practicing them, and it's where reputations go to die. Research for PRSA's Board of Ethics and Professional Standards mapped it across 10 essential AI ethics competencies, from critical thinking and ethical judgment to privacy, accountability, and governance. The finding that stings most: critical thinking is both the most essential competency and one of the profession's biggest gaps. Communicators know the principles. They still fail to apply them when it counts.
Doug caught up with researcher Marlene Neill in Orlando at PRSA ICON 2026 to dig into what that gap looks like inside real organizations, the perfect storm of pressure for speed without the training or guardrails to match. They get into why communicators are weakest at judgment when judgment is the job, what value the practitioner still provides when AI can draft the release in seconds, and the one thing a solo practitioner or small team can do Monday morning to start closing it. If AI touches your comms work, this is the episode about the part no tool can do for you.
Listen For
:13 The Surgical Safety Checklist: What Atul Gawande Teaches PR Pros About the Knowing-Doing Gap
2:57 AI Ethics in Public Relations: Why Human Judgment Still Matters
4:13 AI Hallucinations in PR: Why You Must Verify Every Output
6:19 How AI Is Changing PR Agency Billing and Value-Based Pricing
12:01 How to Speak Up on Ethics at Work: Giving Voice to Values
Guest: Marlene Neill, Professor and Graduate Program Director at Baylor University (Journalism, Public Relations and New Media). Ph.D., APR, Fellow PRSA
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