This study aims to investigate how communication specialists perceive the integration of generative artificial intelligence (AI) within their profession and how these changes affect their professional role. The purpose of the study was achieved by conducting qualitative interviews with eight communication professionals regarding their view on the integration of generative AI within their profession. Particularly, we found it interesting to examine how the communication specialists use generative AI within their professional role, what risks and/or opportunities they identify concerning the use of generative AI tools within the communication profession and what factors they deem as crucial for successfully and effectively integrating AI tools within their professional roles. The theoretical framework of the study consists of diffusion theory, actor-network theory, risk society and reflexive modernity. The results of the study indicate that communication specialists see several opportunities in integrating generative AI tools into their work. Key opportunities identified included using generative AI for inspiration and automating repetitive tasks, thereby allowing communication professionals to allocate more time to the strategic aspects of their work. There was no expressed concern that generative AI could currently replace the communication specialist’s professional role. Thus, the risks identified did not seem to revolve around the job security of the communication specialists but rather around the uncertainty about how generative AI functions, its capabilities, and how it handles the input data. Therefore, the establishment of clearer guidelines and policies on AI usage was something that the communication specialists in this study expressed a great need for. Additional factors identified by communication specialists as crucial for successful AI integration included individual characteristics such as curiosity, a willingness to learn, and openness to change. Thus, the results of the study indicate that achieving successful and effective integration of generative AI is perceived to be a shared responsibility at both organizational and individual levels.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-223214 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Eriksson, Rebecca, Grape, Linnea |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Institutionen för kultur- och medievetenskaper, Välj |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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