Sharjah 24: During the first session of the second day of the International Government Communication Forum's tenth edition, speakers discussed the future relevance of government communication tools, the role of artificial intelligence and modern technologies in transforming the landscape and tools of government communication, and the role of countries' experiences in this regard.
Omar Al Olama, the UAE's Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, emphasised that artificial intelligence has become vital to communication tools, particularly online platforms, because it is the most effective and efficient means to advance government discourse and messaging. “We must be more responsible and knowledgeable in how we direct communications through these technologies in order to maximise their projected impact,” he added.
Toomas Hendrik Ilves, former President of the Republic of Estonia (2006–2016), discussed Estonia's experience as a government in adopting modern technology, stating: "The real issue we faced in the journey of adopting artificial intelligence and modern technology from the start was that we were very late, and thus had to begin our investment in this field from the stage reached by developed countries and the foresight of our government at the time contributed to the rapid adoption of this trend,” he added, noting that his country's adoption of modern technologies in government transactions contributed to the absence of the need to close government institutions following the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, as people did not need to visit them in the first place.
Sir Craig Oliver highlighted the importance of governments’ rapidly improving their modes of communication, implementing the necessary primary steps with clarity and knowledge, and providing appropriate platforms that leverage modern technologies and do not rely solely on traditional methods. He emphasised the importance of speaking with credibility and authority, noting that storytelling ability in contemporary government discourse actually helps to the discourse's logic and relevance to the target groups' interests.
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