The Perils of Plagiarism

Credibility is the lynchpin of every campaign. If your organization is not trustworthy and genuine, how can you expect stakeholders to support your project or policy position?

Successful public affairs initiatives require authenticity coupled with strategy. Not just speaking from the heart but building a comprehensive campaign platform that is original in thought and content, correctly sourced and individualized to a point of personal ownership.

Authenticity has never been under greater scrutiny than it is today. Are you interested in seeing your opponent get bucked off their horse? Discredit their information and the thud will be audible.

Artificial Intelligence has Entered the Chat

The growing use of modernized and readily accessible AI tools has complicated the process. These platforms can serve as both a tool for plagiarism and a means to accelerate its analysis. The potential to imperil your business’ reputation and public image by undermining your messaging platform has never been higher.

At its core, misuse of these tools for content generation constitutes plagiarism, and nothing will sink your trustworthiness faster. At the same time, the ability of opponents to weaponize these tools to decipher content sources can draw a stark contrast between the company you are and the one you appear to be.

The academic institutions and think tanks that the public have traditionally relied upon to provide data that make campaigns more persuasive are being scrutinized at an unprecedented frequency, with plagiarism running rampant due to the ease and accessibility of AI tools.

There is a lesson here. Actively managing your company’s reputation is not an option – it is mandatory and critical to generating public trust and market share. Leaning on AI tools to help explain your positions is a risk you cannot afford to take.

For instance, a candidate for U.S. Congress in Texas, recently posted food photos on social media to embolden her district credentials. Enterprising opponents, likely through use of AI tools like reverse image search, revealed the photos had been taken from other social media accounts and claimed as her own. This was reported by the media, including The Texas Tribune.  Although the candidate may not have had any intention to mislead viewers, the damage was done, and the news cycle created. Texans can smell authenticity a mile away.

AI tools lack the sophistication to navigate Texas’s diverse political and cultural landscape, and using them risks leaving you with a product, position or messages that appear disingenuous, uninformed, or worse, actually plagiarizes content.

In Texas, computer-generated analysis will only get you so far. You need a local expert to navigate the nuances, cultures and personalities of our state.

At The Monument Group, we work alongside our clients to build public trust among audiences that mean the most to their success in Texas. That trust must be earned, and shortcuts like using AI are not worth long-term risk.

Ready to build something that will last? Let’s talk.