Public relations’ (PR) professional habitus is defined by a relentless focus on optimism and futurity. This professional habitus renders PR indispensable to the corporate world after crisis, when new, potentially controversial, growth strategies must be sold-in to stakeholders. This article argues that PR’s professional habitus is heavily influenced by neoliberalism, an ideology which ‘confidently identifies itself with the future’. The discussion is timely, as 21st-century neoliberal capitalism becomes redefined by artificial intelligence (AI). The article combines PR theory, communications theory and political economy to consider the changing shape of neoliberal capitalism, as AI becomes naturalised as ‘common sense’ and a ‘public good’. The article explores how PR supports AI discourses, including promoting AI in national competitiveness and promoting ‘friendly’ AI to consumers, while promoting Internet inequalities. The article concludes that the PR profession’s myopia regarding the implications of promoting AI and neoliberalism is shaped by poor levels of diversity in the PR profession.

中文翻译：

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人工智能啦啦队：公共关系，新自由主义和人工智能

公共关系（PR）的专业习惯由对乐观和未来的不懈关注来定义。这种职业习惯使危机后公关成为企业界不可或缺的部分，因为新的，可能引起争议的增长战略必须出售给利益相关者。本文认为，公关的职业习性在很大程度上受到新自由主义的影响，新自由主义是一种“自信地将自己与未来联系在一起”的意识形态。讨论是及时的，因为21世纪的新自由主义资本主义已被人工智能（AI）重新定义。本文将公关理论，传播理论和政治经济学结合起来，考虑了随着AI被自然化为“常识”和“公益”的新自由主义资本主义形态的变化。本文探讨了PR如何支持AI话语，包括提高AI在国家竞争力中的地位，向消费者推广“友好的” AI，同时加剧互联网不平等。文章得出的结论是，公关行业对促进人工智能和新自由主义的影响的近视是由于公关行业的多样性水平低下所致。