AI in the Workplace: Why Human Judgment Still Matters

By Bradly Howland 

CEO, Alkemi Collective 

 

A few months ago, one of my team leads submitted a first draft of a client strategy document in under two hours. It was polished, well-structured, and covered all the expected ground. It was also, on closer reading, almost entirely generic. The AI had done its job. The thinking had not. 

 

That moment sits with me, because it captures something the industry is not yet being honest enough about. Artificial intelligence has not simply made us more efficient. It has changed what efficiency means… and in doing so, it has created a new and underappreciated risk: that we begin to mistake fluency for insight. 

 

The productivity gains from AI are real

The productivity numbers are real. Research from MIT and Harvard Business School consistently shows that AI-assisted knowledge workers complete tasks 20% to 35% faster, often with measurable quality improvements. Across the communications and marketing industry, output volumes have surged. Agencies that once needed teams to produce a content campaign can now do it with a fraction of the headcount. Clients are asking for more, faster, and at lower cost. The market is obliging. 

 

However, here is the argument I want to make and I accept it may be unpopular in some boardrooms: the productivity gains from AI are real, but they are also creating a form of output inflation that we are not yet equipped to manage. 

 

The Hidden Cost of AI Productivity

Output inflation works like this. As the cost of producing work drops, so does its perceived value. When content is abundant and cheap to generate, differentiation becomes harder. The premium shifts away from production capability and towards something far more difficult to automate: judgment, interpretation, and the ability to navigate genuine complexity. Yet the commercial pressure is moving in exactly the opposite direction. More deliverables. Faster turnaround. Shorter thinking cycles. 

This is not a technology problem. It is a leadership problem. 

 

Organisations embedding AI into their workflows are making implicit choices about what they value. If the metric is speed and volume, then depth and originality will be quietly deprioritised. Nobody announces this. It simply happens, gradually, as the incentive structure shifts. Over time, it hollows out the very capability that justified the premium in the first place. 

 

AI adoption in South Africa

In South Africa, this dynamic carries an additional layer of complexity. AI adoption is uneven - not just across industries, but within them. Some organisations are accelerating rapidly, deploying tools across research, content, and client service. Others are still building foundational digital infrastructure. The result is a dual pressure: to catch up quickly, often without the governance frameworks or strategic clarity needed to do so responsibly. 

 

The risk of moving fast without that clarity is not only reputational, it is also structural. An organisation that uses AI to replace thinking, rather than to enhance it, is not becoming more competitive. It is becoming more fragile, dependent on tools it does not fully understand, producing work that is difficult to defend when it matters. 

 

What AI means for communications

For the communications industry specifically, this should prompt some uncomfortable self-examination. Our value proposition has never been rooted in volume. It lies in the capacity to read a situation accurately, to shape a narrative under pressure, to exercise judgment when the facts are contested and the stakes are high. These are not capabilities that can be automated. But they can be eroded - through neglect, through underinvestment, and through the slow substitution of speed for thought. 

 

The organisations that will succeed in this next phase are not those that use AI most aggressively. They are those that are most deliberate about where it stops. 

 

That means protecting time for thinking, even when technology makes it possible to move faster. It means being explicit about where human judgment is non-negotiable, and building that distinction into how work is structured, priced, and evaluated. It means resisting the temptation to let a client brief become a prompt, and then mistake the output for a strategy. 

 

AI has made work faster. Whether it makes work better depends entirely on the choices that sit around it - the questions we ask before we run the tool, the standards we apply when we review the output, and the intellectual honesty to know the difference between something that looks good and something that is good. 

 

Speed is not the test. Judgment is. 

 

Howland is the CEO of Alkemi Collective and President of the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA). 

PR Profession in Africa: A New Standard for Communication

The PR profession in Africa is entering a new chapter. On World PR Day 2026, leading professional communication associations, institutes and bodies across the continent announced The Africa Declaration on the Professionalisation of Public Relations and Responsible Communication. International partners also joined the initiative. 

 

16 July 2026 

In a profession where anyone can claim to be a practitioner, where ethical failures carry no professional consequence, and where a continent experiencing rapid economic and democratic transformation has lacked any shared standard for responsible communication practice - Africa's professional bodies have united to change that. 

 

A new standard for the PR profession in Africa

On World PR Day 2026, a coalition of Africa's leading professional communication associations, institutes, and bodies (spanning the continent and supported by key international partners) today announced The Africa Declaration on the Professionalisation of Public Relations and Responsible Communication.

 

Building a shared professional standard

The Declaration is a founding charter: a collective commitment to shared standards, ethical accountability, and the professionalisation of public relations and communication practice across Africa, built from African experience and designed to endure. 

The Declaration does not attempt to import a framework from elsewhere. It is built from the ground up - shaped by the realities of Africa's communications environment, the diversity of its regulatory landscapes, and the hard-won experience of professional bodies that have navigated the journey from voluntary association to statutory recognition. It establishes eight founding principles, six areas of institutional commitment, and a ten-point collective action plan with accountable leads across the signatory community. 

 

Federated Approach to Professional AccountabilityFederated Approach to Professional Accountability

The African Responsible Communicator Standard

Central to the Declaration is the African Responsible Communicator Standard (ARCS) - a continental recognition framework that converts the Declaration's commitments into a visible, verifiable credential. Through ARCS, any practitioner who holds active membership of a signatory professional body, meets shared continuing professional development requirements, and commits to the shared code of ethics, carries that recognition across every signatory market. The credential is portable, renewable, and employer-facing - designed to make professional standing visible to clients, governments, and the organisations that hire communicators. 

The African Public Relations Association (APRA), as the continent's umbrella body for public relations associations, will play a central coordinating role in the initiative - driving continental engagement, supporting the expansion of the signatory base across regions, and representing the collective African voice in global professional forums. 

 

"Africa's communications landscape is one of the most consequential in the world. It shapes public discourse, influences democratic participation, and tells the continent's story to itself and to the world. Yet for too long, that landscape has had no shared standard for who practises in it or what responsibility they carry. The Africa Declaration changes that - not by importing a framework from elsewhere, but by building one from within, rooted in African experience, shaped by African institutions. Africa is not professionalising its communications industry to catch up with the world. It is doing it to lead." 

Bradly Howland, Co-Lead of the Africa Declaration 

The Africa Declaration, Immediate-Past President of Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA) 

 

“A continent that commits to a developmental programme such as the African Union’s Agenda 2063 cannot operate disparate standards of communication principles and practices. Therefore, this pronouncement is not just auspicious, it is reasoned, it is seminal and indeed an accountable demonstration of commitment to iterating the centrality of responsible communication to human progress, by those who have lived and understand the spectrum and intricacies of the African story.” 

Dr Omoniyi Ibietan, Secretary General 

African Public Relations Association (APRA)  

 

"Africa has been at the heart of the Global Alliance since its foundation, with African leaders and professional bodies playing a vital role in shaping our organisation and strengthening the global public relations and communication profession. For more than 25 years, the Global Alliance has proudly amplified Africa's voice on the international stage, and it is particularly fitting that the World Public Relations Forum 2026 will be hosted in Nigeria this November —bringing the world's leading communication professionals to the African continent under the theme Responsible Communication: The Voice of the World. The Africa Declaration on the Professionalisation of Public Relations and Responsible Communication is a landmark achievement that will resonate far beyond Africa. It demonstrates the continent's leadership in advancing ethical practice, professional standards, and responsible communication at a time when these values have never been more important. As the global voice for more than 360,000 public relations and communication professionals across 126 countries, the Global Alliance is proud to support this historic initiative and to help showcase Africa's leadership and innovation to the world."

Prof. Justin Green, President & CEO 

Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management 

 

“As a founding signatory of the Africa Declaration, PRISA stands firmly behind a vision of communications built on integrity, accountability and shared professional standards. This is a defining moment for our profession, one PRISA is proud to have helped catalyse by bringing together the conversations that made it possible. Professionalising our craft is how we safeguard public trust, strengthen ethical practice, and ensure communicators across South Africa and the continent are recognised as the strategic, values-driven professionals they are.” 

Dr Caroline Azionya, President 

Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA)  

 

Nigeria's journey from voluntary association to statutory recognition as proof of what is possible; how the Declaration builds on that model at continental scale; NIPR's commitment to sharing what it has learned with bodies across Africa. 

Dr. Ike Neliaku, President 

Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR)  

 

Public Relations (PR) has evolved from a communication support function into a strategic leadership discipline that shapes decisions, protects reputation, builds trust, and creates lasting value. Today, strategic communication is no longer optional, it is indispensable. The Zambia Institute of Public Relations and Communication (ZIPRC) reaffirms its commitment to professionalism, ethical practice, continuous learning, and excellence in PR practice. 

Patricia Luhanga, President 

Zambia Institute for Public Relations and Communication (ZIPRC) 

"For 55 years, PRSK has carried the voice of Kenya’s communicators, proving that trust is not a luxury but national infrastructure. By joining the Africa Declaration, we are not simply adding Kenya’s name to a list of signatories. We are anchoring Africa’s communications profession in law, ethics and accountability. Kenya’s journey toward statutory recognition is a signal to the continent: professionalization is not about catching up; it is about leading. In a world where misinformation destabilizes democracies and erodes investor confidence, Africa must show that its communicators are guardians of truth. This Declaration is our collective promise that the story of Africa will be told with integrity by professionals who are accountable to the societies they serve." 

Arik Karani, President  

Public Relations Society of Kenya 

 

"At ICCO, we believe the future of the communications profession depends on strong ethical standards, professional accountability and collaboration across borders. The Africa Declaration is an important milestone, demonstrating how African leadership can help strengthen the profession while contributing to higher global standards for responsible communication."

Massimo Moriconi, President 

International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) 

 

"The Declaration reflects many of the principles the PRCA has championed for years around ethics, professional standards and raising the profile of public relations as a recognised profession. It strikes the right balance between ambition and practicality, setting out a clear vision for ethical, accountable communications across Africa. By focusing on standards shaped by the realities of the African communications industry, rather than adopting approaches developed elsewhere, it has the potential to become an important milestone in strengthening and advancing the profession across the continent." 

Jo Brophy MPRCA, Head of International Membership 

The Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA)  

 

"In endorsing the Africa Declaration, Lesotho takes its place alongside sister nations committed to a shared belief that communication carries responsibility. Across our region, misinformation and eroding trust know no borders, and neither should our resolve to practice our craft ethically and with accountability. Guided by the Declaration, Basotho communicators pledge to uphold honesty, serve the public interest, and strengthen the integrity of our profession. This is solidarity in action, and Lesotho is proud to answer the call." 

Mamoabi Ralebitso-Phori, President  

PRISA Lesotho Chapter 

 

Federated approach to professional accountability

ARCS operates on a federated model: enforcement authority remains with national professional bodies operating under their own governance frameworks. In countries where statutory recognition has been achieved, ARCS recognition is contingent on compliance with the legal requirements of those jurisdictions. The Declaration is designed to complement and amplify existing national frameworks - not to compete with or supersede the authority of statutory bodies such as the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) or the Zambia Institute of Public Relations and Communication (ZIPRC). 

 

Launching the Africa Declaration

Today's announcement marks the formal beginning of the Africa Declaration initiative. The founding signatory group will continue to grow as engagement across the continent progresses. The Declaration will be formally signed and launched at the World PR Forum (WPRF) in Abuja, Nigeria, in November 2026 - providing the runway for all signatories to endorse the document, for working groups to be constituted, and for the initiative to be properly activated before it goes live across the continent. 

Professional bodies, associations, and institutions across Africa wishing to engage with the Declaration ahead of the formal launch are encouraged to make contact through any founding signatory body or through APRA. 

The initiative is co-led by Bradly Howland, Immediate-Past President of PRISA, and Irene Lungu Chipili, Chairman of the Africa Regional Council at Global Alliance. 

PR Industry in South Africa: Shaping the Future

Why agencies must help shape the future of communication

South Africa's PR industry operates in a world where trust is increasingly fragile, misinformation can spread faster than the truth, and the value of credible communications is under real pressure. The role of our industry has never been more critical.

The Role of South Africa's PR Industry

South Africa’s communications professionals sit at the intersection of business, government, and society. They help brands build and maintain trust, shape the stories that inform public understanding, and hold themselves accountable to ethical practice in a space where the stakes are high.

 

Despite this importance, the structures that support and professionalise the field often need strengthening. Industry bodies like the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA) play a vital role in this work, and agencies cannot afford to sit on the sidelines.

 

PRISA has served as the home of the communications profession in Southern Africa for decades. This is not about legacy for its own sake, but about real, present-day relevance.

 

Today, PRISA’s work is essential in addressing some of the biggest challenges facing the industry. Its commitment to ethics is crucial in an age of disinformation, AI-generated content, and declining media trust.

 

The PRISA code of ethics is not just a symbolic document, but a practical framework for navigating complex client demands, public scrutiny, and the responsibility to the truth.

 

“Ethics is not negotiable,” says Bradly Howland, CEO of Alkemi and President of PRISA. “Our industry is under the microscope in ways it has never been before. We must be able to show clients and the public that we hold ourselves to real standards. Without that, our credibility collapses.”

 

Education and professionalisation are equally important. The sector faces a serious skills challenge, and PRISA’s role in accrediting programmes, supporting continuing professional development, and promoting professional standards directly improves the quality of work agencies and practitioners deliver. Transformation remains a core priority as well. A diverse, inclusive industry is not only fairer but smarter, better able to serve a country as varied and complex as South Africa.

 

When Howland accepted the role of PRISA President in June, it was with the conviction that the industry cannot keep doing things the same way.

 

“We have to be more professional, more accountable, and more relevant to business and society,” he says. “That means updating what PRISA offers, making sure it is financially sustainable, and building real value for members while advocating for standards that protect our industry’s reputation.”

 

“This is not work any one person or organisation can do alone. It needs buy-in from the entire industry, and especially from agencies that help set the tone for how we practice.  At Alkemi, the commitment to this work is deliberate and active,” Howland adds.

 

He explains that supporting the industry is smart business.

 

“We invest time mentoring the next generation of practitioners because we want a strong talent pipeline. We have worked to revitalise the PRISMS because our industry needs a credible, aspirational showcase of excellence. We also believe in using our own platform to drive conversations about ethical practice and the evolving role of communications.”

 

Howland adds that this is not charity, but strategic thinking. “If the industry is healthier, we are all better off. Clients see more value in our work, talent stays in the sector, and standards rise across the board.”

 

“If you work in an agency, run one, or call yourself a professional in this field, the challenge is clear. Get involved. Support the work of your respective professional bodies. Offer your expertise. Help hold our industry to higher standards,” he says. 

 

“We often tell clients we are their strategic partners. We need to be strategic partners in shaping the future of our own industry too. If we do not do it, someone else will - and we may not like where it ends up,” says Howland.