Artificial intelligence (AI) is having a profound influence on the way people communicate – a change which has accelerated with the advent of new forms of generative AI.

Integrating AI into communications practices can unleash significant benefits for professionals; from faster content creation to enhanced engagement. However, it also has the power to deepen existing difficulties in distinguishing between what’s real and what’s not, impacting public trust in the information they consume and even their engagement with political and democratic processes.

This research investigates the implications of this for public discourse, trust and democracy. The authors make a series of recommendations for safeguarding trust in our democratic information environments, and introduce a guiding framework based on five key principles; Transparency, Accountability, Fairness and Inclusivity, Privacy, and Reliability.