Artificial intelligence can now write a press release, analyse public sentiment, and generate a week’s worth of content in seconds. It can also fabricate a convincing quote from a public figure and spread a false narrative at a speed no human communications team can match. That tension sat at the centre of a World Public Relations Day roundtable hosted by Quadrant MSL in Lagos, where Nigerian communications leaders gathered to discuss what AI means for their profession.
The event was built around this year’s global PR theme, “The Golden Age of Strategic PR,” and the conversation quickly moved beyond whether AI would replace communicators to something more urgent: how do you fight misinformation when the tools to create it have become this cheap and this fast?
Dr. Lakinbofa Goodluck, Public Relations Manager at MTN Nigeria, did not mince words about the scale of the problem. He said AI can write press releases, analyse sentiment, and generate content in seconds. But it can also fabricate quotes, create convincing misinformation, and spread false narratives at a speed the industry has never encountered before.
His point was not to dismiss AI as purely dangerous. It was to be honest about both sides of what the technology brings. The same tool that helps a communications team produce faster, better content is the same tool a bad actor can use to manufacture a crisis from nothing.
For Nigerian businesses and institutions already navigating a media environment where rumours travel fast on WhatsApp and social media, the prospect of AI-powered misinformation at scale is a serious operational concern, not a theoretical one.
Don't Miss This Article
Goodluck’s central argument was built around what AI still cannot replace. In an environment where misinformation is easier to create than ever, someone still has to verify the facts, restore confidence, and rebuild trust. That, he said, is where strategic public relations becomes not less important but more indispensable than it has ever been.
As content creation becomes increasingly automated and accessible to anyone with an internet connection, the real differentiator for communications professionals will be sound judgement, credibility, and the ability to help organisations earn and maintain public trust over time. Those are human skills that do not come out of a prompt.
Adeoyin Jaiyesimi, co-founder of The Comms Avenue, took the conversation in a slightly different direction. Rather than focusing on the threat AI poses, she emphasised what communications professionals need to build inside themselves to remain relevant.
She encouraged practitioners to stay intellectually curious, describing curiosity as one of the most valuable qualities a strategic communicator can possess right now. She urged professionals to read widely, ask better questions, challenge assumptions, and verify information before amplifying it.
Her reasoning was practical. As organisations lean more heavily on communications professionals not just to produce content but to provide strategic counsel, the ability to think critically about information before passing it on becomes more valuable, not less. In a world where AI can generate plausible-sounding content instantly, the human who can tell the difference between credible and fabricated becomes the most important person in the room.
The conversation at this roundtable has implications well beyond the communications profession. Every Nigerian business, institution, or public figure that relies on its reputation is now operating in an environment where a convincing fake quote, a fabricated news story, or a manipulated image can be produced and distributed faster than any response team can catch up.
This is not a distant problem. Nigeria has already seen how quickly false information spreads across WhatsApp groups and social media feeds, sometimes causing real-world harm before corrections can reach the same audience. AI tools make that existing challenge significantly more difficult to manage.
Chidinma Nwankwo, Head of Business at Quadrant MSL, summed up the consensus that emerged from the session. She said the communications landscape is evolving rapidly, but one thing remains constant: trust. As AI reshapes how information is created and shared, strategic communicators have an even greater responsibility to help organisations communicate with clarity, credibility, and integrity.
The participants broadly agreed that the future of communications will not be defined by how much content professionals can produce. It will be defined by their ability to help organisations build credibility, navigate uncertainty, and sustain trust with their stakeholders, precisely the things AI is worst at doing on its own.
Don't Miss This Article
For Nigerian professionals in communications, marketing, and media who are worried about what AI means for their careers, the message from this roundtable is both reassuring and challenging. Reassuring because the most critical skills in the industry are still human ones. Challenging because those skills, sound judgement, ethical thinking, critical analysis, and the ability to build genuine trust, require deliberate, continuous development. AI will keep getting better at producing content. The professionals who keep getting better at the things AI cannot do are the ones who will matter most in the years ahead.
