This is a very interesting era for PR professionals. AI turns our profession upside down; younger generations enter the job market with totally different values and expectations; AI powered fake news and misinformation undermines consumer trust – just to name a few challenges. Farzana Baudel is one of the most influential voices of our profession these days The Chief Executive and Co-founder of London-based Curzon PR and president of CIPR answered IdeaBank questions.
AI is transforming almost every corner of communications right now. From your point of view, where do you see AI creating the most value for PR professionals today, and where are you most cautious about over-relying on it?
AI is creating immediate value in research, horizon-scanning, audience analysis and routine production. Used well, it can help practitioners process large volumes of information quickly and create more space for strategic thinking and client counsel.
My caution is that efficiency can easily be mistaken for accuracy. AI can produce confident answers without understanding whether they are true, fair or appropriate. It also cannot carry professional accountability. A practitioner must still interrogate the evidence, recognise bias and consider the consequences of what is being communicated.
AI can accelerate the work, but it should not be allowed to make the judgement. Innovation still requires human oversight.
Looking five to ten years ahead, what does the PR profession look like in an AI-dominated landscape? Which core skills will become even more valuable precisely because AI cannot replicate them?
The value of PR will shift further away from producing content and towards providing counsel. AI will make many outputs faster and cheaper, but organisations will still need people who can interpret complex situations, understand competing interests and advise leaders when the right course of action is unclear.
Judgement, curiosity and cultural intelligence will become more valuable. So will the ability to build trusted relationships, challenge senior decision-makers and recognise what is left unsaid in a room.
AI can model sentiment, but it cannot fully understand lived experience or take responsibility for a difficult decision. The practitioners who thrive will combine technological fluency with a deep understanding of people, institutions and power.
For young people entering PR today, the toolkit and career path look very different from a decade ago. What advice would you give to someone starting out now?
Learn how to write with clarity avoiding generic AI slop, research whilst navigating bias and develop critical thinking and hone judgement. These foundations will remain valuable long after today’s platforms and tools have changed.
You should also learn how to work with AI: how to brief it, question its output and identify what it has missed. Using a tool is not the same as understanding the subject, so keep developing your own knowledge and point of view.
Do not worry about mastering every new platform or following a perfectly linear career path. Careers rarely work that way. Stay curious, seek experience across different sectors and build relationships with people whose perspectives differ from yours. Your ability to learn will matter more than arriving with every answer.
Misinformation and fake news are among the defining challenges of our era. How should the PR profession specifically respond?
PR cannot treat misinformation as a problem belonging only to journalists, technology companies or regulators. Our profession helps determine which claims, experts and evidence enter the public conversation. That gives us both influence and responsibility.
Practitioners should verify information before distributing it, challenge claims that cannot be substantiated and resist the pressure to prioritise speed or attention over accuracy. We must also be honest about our own role in creating an information environment where visibility can sometimes be confused with expertise.
Trust is cumulative, but so is distrust. Every misleading statistic, unverifiable expert or manipulated image weakens confidence in the wider information system. PR must become part of the verification process, not simply part of the distribution process.
Are there concrete practices or standards you would recommend agencies adopt to safeguard accuracy and transparency?
Every agency should have a clear verification process for facts, statistics, quotations and expert credentials. AI-generated material should never move directly from a tool into the public domain without human review and, where appropriate, confirmation from the original source.
At CurzonPR, we believe AI use should be declared when it has played a material role in creating content. Transparency matters because audiences should be able to understand how something was produced and judge it accordingly.
Agencies should also establish clear lines of accountability. “The AI generated it” cannot become an excuse when something goes wrong. The technology may assist the process, but professional responsibility cannot be automated.
As CIPR President, what are the one or two priorities you are most focused on, and how do you see CIPR’s role evolving?
One of my main priorities is helping practitioners navigate the transformation created by AI with confidence, evidence and professional judgement. The profession needs neither fear nor blind enthusiasm. It needs practical education, ethical leadership and a commitment to lifelong learning.
I am also focused on strengthening the recognition of PR as a strategic management discipline. Our work is not simply about generating attention. At its best, public relations helps organisations understand stakeholders, anticipate risk, build trust and make better decisions.
Professional bodies such as the CIPR have an important role in setting standards, supporting continuous development and creating a space where the profession can examine difficult questions honestly. As the environment changes, that role becomes more necessary, not less.
How do you see the relationship between national professional bodies like CIPR and international networks? Is the profession converging towards shared global standards?
The principles underpinning good public relations should travel across borders: accuracy, transparency, accountability and acting in the public interest. International networks and professional bodies can help turn those principles into shared expectations and raise standards across the profession.
Their application will still differ. Media systems, regulation, political culture and public attitudes vary significantly between markets. A practice that appears acceptable in one country may be ineffective or inappropriate in another.
The principles can be global, but professional practice must remain culturally literate. National bodies bring essential knowledge of their own markets, while international collaboration prevents the profession from becoming fragmented or inward-looking. We need both: common ethical foundations and enough local understanding to apply them responsibly.
How do you think the public perception of PR is changing, and what more could practitioners do to shape a more accurate and respected image of the profession?
Public relations is still too often understood as publicity, spin or crisis management after something has gone wrong. In reality, much of the profession’s most valuable work happens before the public sees anything.
PR practitioners advise leaders on reputation, stakeholder expectations, organisational behaviour and emerging risk. We help institutions understand how their decisions will be received and, at our best, challenge them when communication cannot compensate for poor conduct.
The profession will not improve its reputation simply by describing itself differently. We must demonstrate our value through rigorous work, ethical behaviour and a willingness to hold ourselves accountable. Practitioners should also speak more openly about what strategic communications involves, including the difficult conversations and judgement behind the visible campaign.
Farzana Baduel
Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Curzon PR and President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (2026). An internationally recognised strategic communications adviser, she specialises in reputation management and high-stakes communications, advising governments, global corporations and institutions. Farzana also serves as an expert at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School and is a presenter on BBC Radio 4’s When It Hits the Fan.
She holds trustee roles at The HALO Trust and Soho Theatre, and serves on the Ministry of Justice’s English Law Promotion Panel.
