It’s not uncommon for the human race to experience waves of fear and scepticism toward new technologies.
From the printing press to the industrial revolution, each innovation has been met with a degree of misplaced technophobia.
In the 1920s, parents worried about the effect the humble radio might have on their children’s attention spans- ironic for anyone with children who are conjoined to a tablet.
Even the advent of the motor car drew hysterical newspaper comment that the speed of the onrushing air could permanently change the shape of your face!
Fast forward to 2024 and we find ourselves at the dawn of the artificial intelligence era. Rapid advancements in AI have sparked a new wave of technophobia. Many fear job displacement, loss of privacy, and even a dystopian future where machines surpass human intelligence.
While acknowledging the genuine concerns surrounding AI, it’s important to differentiate between valid apprehensions and misplaced fears.
AI, like its historical technological predecessors, has the potential to enhance our lives, improve efficiency and solve complex problems.
Understanding the historical context of technophobia can help us navigate the current landscape with a more informed and balanced perspective.
It’s in this spirit, that I offer four ways AI could help a busy fire service comms person become more efficient in their role:
- Survive vs thrive days – not everyone can be at their brilliant, creative best all of the time. We all have good days and bad days- despite the organisations we work for often demanding us to be ‘on’ 365. AI can really help on those days when you’re lacking inspiration or need a creative spark- from jazzing up a social media post, to getting you started on a press release (or blog post like this…)
- Meeting saver – if, like me, you spend half your working life in meetings, the ability to send an AI robot to a meeting it wasn’t essential for you to be at could be a big time saver in the future (I haven’t actually tried it yet). Many assistants like Otter or Fathom will give you a succinct summary of what was discussed and the main actions, allowing you to get on with the rest of your day unhindered
- Campaign imagery – my team at South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue trialled the use of AI to create campaign imagery for a wildfires campaign in the summer of 2023. With an idea for a campaign creative we were struggling to articulate on paper, Midjourney produced in a few seconds exactly the type of artwork we were attempting to replicate
- Painless planning – if you’re bombarded with requests for comms plans but struggle to put pen to paper, AI can give you a useful headstart- helping you with everything from structure to audience segmentation and messaging. You’ll need to tweak your prompts to get it right- and you’ll still need to use your skills and knowledge to make it work for your organisation’s context- but AI can turn a half day chore into a 60 minute task.
Zander Mills
Corporate Communications Manager
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
