When AI starts pretending to be your PR team, it's a problem
The comms, PR, and journo world is a small one. Over the weekend, I had half a dozen people send me the same Futurism article via WhatsApp. It detailed UK-based PR firm Movchan Agency, which journalis...
Key Takeaways
- The Movchan Agency controversy shows why trust remains the foundation of journalism and public relations.
Artificial Intelligence When AI starts pretending to be your PR team, it's a problem The Movchan Agency controversy shows why trust remains the foundation of journalism and public relations.
- So, I'm struggling to understand why the agency felt the need to create more than a dozen fictional PR personas.
In response to Futurism's questions, founder Nadya Movchan said: "A few months ago (likely after one of Gmail's deliverability updates), we had a major issue with our domain reputation.
- claiming I wanted to meet a founder who attended Money2020 but asked to meet in LA when the conf.
" ​ According to journalist Harrison Dupré, the Movchan agency's clients were unaware of the practice, which the company will wind down - no doubt because they got caught.
- I'd estimate around 70 per cent of the unsolicited emails I receive now fall into that category.
" He mentioned Artisan, whose AI sales employee product and "Stop Hiring Humans" billboard campaign illustrate how quickly synthetic outreach is becoming normalised.
- " Ironically, he's no longer in that role.
The Movchan Agency controversy shows why trust remains the foundation of journalism and public relations. Artificial Intelligence When AI starts pretending to be your PR team, it's a problem The Movchan Agency controversy shows why trust remains the foundation of journalism and public relations. Cate Lawrence 1 hour ago Share Share Send email Copy link The comms, PR, and journo world is a small one.
Over the weekend, I had half a dozen people send me the same Futurism article via WhatsApp. It detailed UK-based PR firm Movchan Agency, which journalist Maggie Harrison Dupré at Futurism found had created numerous fake PR representatives - including names, email addresses, biographies, and, in some cases, AI-generated/stock-photo headshots - to pitch stories to journalists. As a journalist, trust and relationships are everything.
I was also confused, because I'd received plenty of entirely legitimate pitches from Movchan Agency over the years that resulted in interviews and coverage, including an interview with Zing coach CEO Anton Marchanka , ​Gradient Labs CEO Dimitri Masin ,​ Anatolii Kasianov , co-founder and co-CEO of HOLYWATER, and Natalia Shahmetova from nove8, developer of Woofz. So, I'm struggling to understand why the agency felt the need to create more than a dozen fictional PR personas. In response to Futurism's questions, founder Nadya Movchan said: "A few months ago (likely after one of Gmail's deliverability updates), we had a major issue with our domain reputation.
For more details please read the original article at Tech.eu.
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