One of the sessions from this year’s Social Media Summit for Government reflected on how AI is transforming the relationship between government and citizens.
Mandla J Radebe
Not so long ago, governments were still debating whether social media belonged in official communication strategies, but today that debate is over. With the rapid rise of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), which have fundamentally changed the conversation about public sector communication, digital platforms have become indispensable to government itself.
Now, the more urgent question is whether governments are prepared to communicate effectively in an era increasingly shaped by AI.
This was one of the central themes emerging from this year’s Social Media Summit for Government, hosted by the University of Johannesburg in partnership with Decode under the theme “Life on an Engagement Spectrum”. Over two days, policymakers, academics, communication professionals and technology experts reflected on how AI is transforming the relationship between government and citizens.
