Ethics of Public Relations in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: An Integrative Theoretical Framework for Understanding Communicative Responsibility in the Automated Digital Environment

Abstract

This study addresses a central problematic concerning the existing gap in public relations literature regarding the ethical framing of institutional communication practices amid the profound transformations brought about by artificial intelligence. Although partial attempts exist to address this intersection (Galloway & Swiatek, 2018; Wiencierz & Röttger, 2019; Wiesenberg & Tench, 2020), the field still lacks an integrative theoretical framework that reconceptualizes communicative responsibility in a manner that accommodates the specificities of automation and algorithmic personalization. The study seeks to construct this framework through a critical narrative review encompassing the analysis of 87 scholarly works published between 1984 and 2025 in the Scopus, Web of Science, and Communication Abstracts databases, spanning the fields of public relations ethics, artificial intelligence ethics, and data governance. These works were analyzed along three axes: philosophical foundations, epistemological assumptions, and scope of application in automated contexts. The study concluded by proposing a composite theoretical framework comprising five interrelated dimensions: graduated algorithmic transparency, distributed communicative accountability, informational justice, audience autonomy, and anticipatory responsibility. These dimensions were derived from the intersection between ethical problematics identified in public relations literature and emerging normative principles in the field of AI ethics, with the integration of the privacy problematic as a cross-cutting component that intersects with all five dimensions. This framework contributes to overcoming the deficiencies that traditional models suffer from when confronted with communication contexts characterized by technical invisibility. The study also presents illustrative application scenarios and a set of theoretical and practical implications that redefine ethical professional practice in the field of public relations.