External Communications Plan

Background

 Scotland’s AI Strategy launched on 22 March 2021 with the vision for Scotland to become a world leader in the development and use of trustworthy, ethical and inclusive AI. By achieving this vision, AI will be enabled to contribute to making Scotland fairer, greener, more prosperous and outward looking.

The strategy will be delivered under the leadership of the Scottish AI Alliance, an open-to-all stakeholder group convened with representation across society. The Alliance comprises of a Leadership Circle board and a Support Circle team, and wider Delivery and Community Circles comprising of people and organisations convened as and when required.  

Announced in the strategy was the development of a Scottish AI Playbook, an open and practical guide to how we do AI in Scotland, introduces our vision, our principles and the practices we will adopt to realise our vision. 

The strategy commits to 38 actions across three timelines (First 100 days, Year 1, Year 2 and beyond) across three tracks:

  • Track 1 – Establish collective leadership through the Scottish AI Alliance

  • Track 2 – Create the foundations for success

  • Track 3 – Build an AI Powerhouse

The 38 actions of the Strategy have been divided into 10 progammes of work.

With an ethos of being open and transparent, this communications plan outlines the intentions and channels of the Scottish AI Alliance as it delivers on the Strategy's actions.

Who is this plan for?

Scotland’s AI Strategy places people at its heart and that informs the Scottish AI Alliance’s communications plan.

This plan outlines our communications commitments, as the Scottish AI Alliance, to you, the people of Scotland, through a program of advocacy and partnership.

Our goals

We aim to engage with, educate and excite our audiences about AI and the work of the Scottish AI Alliance to support and nurture a strong AI community in Scotland. We are committed to three main areas of communications:  

  • Demystifying AI and broaden public understanding of AI

  • Transparency - Scottish AI Alliance Updates

  • Fostering an Ecosystem - Scottish AI Scene Updates 


Demystifying AI and broaden public understanding of AI

In our Strategy, we define AI as:

 “Technologies used to allow computers to perform tasks that would otherwise require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, and language translation.”

We aim to pull back the veil on AI and help the people of Scotland understand what AI is, how it is used, and the implications it has on their lives. A big part of this is also debunking myths and showing also what AI is and isn’t capable of. If the public can better understand AI it can empower them to make better decisions. This is particularly true when it comes to issues such as data ownership and usage.

Another issue is demonstrating the generalisability of AI, showing its benefits across wide portions of the population, in different parts of the country. Showing that it is not just going to benefit the few but has the potential for great positive change at an economic and social level but also for the personal well-being of individuals.

Generalisability is also about following best AI practices (the how) vs the outcome/benefits (the what). AI models must be built on the principle of inclusivity, using data representative of the Scottish population to avoid bias and ensure it ‘generalises’ across all demographics.

Transparency - Scottish AI Alliance Updates

Through Scottish AI Alliance (SAIA) updates we will keep an open and honest dialogue with stakeholders to keep them up to date with work we are doing throughout the phases of the Strategy. This will include progress on the Scottish AI Playbook and the other work programmes. 

Fostering an Ecosystem - Scottish AI Scene Updates

We aim to promote the Scottish AI Scene through a program of advocacy and partnerships in order to foster an environment of support and collaboration. We will make national and international partnerships across a variety of sectors and demonstrate the success stories of Scotland’s AI ecosystem.  

We hope these examples will encourage the uptake of AI by businesses, public sector and third sector organisations.

Audiences

AI is already becoming a staple across many sectors and its use continues to grow. We want to support its growth by promoting the activity already taking place, while encouraging new organisations and individuals to explore what AI can do for them, to ensure they don’t get left behind. 

The uptake and success of AI will depend on whether people can understand and trust it. We see AI as a tool with huge potential and we aim to help organisations and individuals harness that potential to make the world a better place.

Organisations and individuals not yet using AI

We will help organisations and individuals in academia, industry, the public sector, and the third sector become more AI literate and help them take advantage of opportunities provided by AI.

Many organisations and individuals are interested in AI, but don’t know where to start. Through our communications we aim to make AI solutions more accessible to a wider audience and to provide case studies and examples of how AI can be used to improve processes. 

AI sceptics and AI evangelists

Public perception of AI can often lead to extremes, with either scepticism or enthusiasm. 

 We are committed to giving a balanced and trustworthy account of what AI is, what it is capable of, and how it can be used.

We want to show how it can be used in Trustworthy, Ethical, and Inclusive ways, but also recognise that like any tool, it can also be used for harmful purposes. By highlighting both we can encourage the use of Trustworthy, Ethical, and Inclusive AI and help challenge and avoid the use of AI for harmful purposes.

Passive AI consumers

AI is being widely used in society and the end user is often not even aware of it. We will raise awareness of how AI is being used and how end users’ data are being used. We want the general public to have a deeper understanding of the basic concepts of AI and empower them with the knowledge to be better informed users.

Those already using AI

Many organisations and individuals in Scotland are already using AI or involved in the field of AI.

We will offer these organisations and individuals support and help build connections nationally and internationally. This may involve helping an AI start-up find the right investment funding or connecting stakeholders across various industries. 

We will promote these organisations and individuals across our channels and help provide them with support that they need to flourish.

How we communicate?

To reach our intended audiences we have a variety of content types and channels to promote that content. All content will be published on the Scotland’s AI Strategy website and pushed out through different channels.

Website and content

On our website we publish the following content:

  • Educational resources: We host educational resources to help those new to AI to gain a better understanding of the technology and to help those wanting to start a career in AI to take their first steps.

  • Blogs: We publish regular SAIA blogs to keep stakeholders up to date with the progress of Scotland’s AI Strategy.

  • Guest blogs: We publish regular guest blogs to help educate our followers about AI and specific issues while promoting the Scottish AI scene and making connections with international AI players.

  • Podcasts: We bring together key players in the Scottish and international AI scene to discuss important topics in AI in order to promote the work going on in Scotland and to make national and international connections.  

  • Events board: We help publicise AI themed events going on in Scotland and also publicise international AI themed events that our audience might want to attend. 

  • Jobs board: We post job opportunities to help promote the career opportunities in Scotland and help connect employers and employees.

  • Our Events: We run our own events in order to showcase the Scottish AI Scene and share it with the world, including the Scottish AI Summit.

Distributions channels

Get involved!

Get in contact with us to find out how we can help you and how you can get involved in the AI ecosystem in Scotland!