PR > Culture & Context

FIXING THE BAIS

MULLENLOWE MENA, Dubai / AURORA50 / 2024

Awards:

Shortlisted Dubai Lynx
CampaignCampaign(opens in a new tab)
Case Film
Supporting Content
Supporting Images

Overview

Credits

Overview

Why is this work relevant for PR?

Fixing the bAIs aligns seamlessly with Corporate Purpose & Social Responsibility in PR. It champions diversity, equity, and inclusion, echoing the brand's commitment. The campaign not only raises awareness but actively addresses a critical societal issue, showcasing genuine concern for gender bias in AI. Its impact, recognized globally, reflects the brand's dedication to transformative change. By leveraging AI for societal benefit, it sets a precedent for responsible tech use. The campaign secured $4.5 Million in earned media, without any investment demonstrates a prudent and impactful CSR strategy, fostering positive brand perception and exemplifying corporate responsibility in driving societal change.

Please note that the Jurors for Dubai Lynx will be coming from outside the region and may not be aware of the specific cultural nuances of your work.

In the Middle East, the fight for women's equality in the workforce is at a critical point. Despite progress over the last half-century, female participation in the workforce is at only 25%, far below the global average of 50%. The gender gap is even more evident in leadership roles with men holding 96% of positions on corporate boards, as shown by the MSCI ACWI Index. The rise of Artificial Intelligence exacerbates this issue, reinforcing real life biases. UNESCO warns that AI is regressing decades of female progress, one prompt at a time.

Aurora50, a DEI impact agency founded in 2020, is addressing this challenge. As a catalyst for change in workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion, Aurora50 guides corporations towards more inclusive futures. They focus not just on real-world diversity but also aim to influence the virtual realm. Aurora50’s mission led to a significant initiative to fix AI biases using AI itself. Our campaign offered a solution to counteract female representation biases in AI, starting on digital platforms and expanding to reach global policymakers.

The campaign's influence was seismic gaining international recognition and influencing policies. It played a pivotal role in influencing 52 nations to adopt the EU’s first AI Act.

As a small Middle Eastern startup, Aurora50 stands as a testament to the power of not only transforming workplaces but also driving significant global societal changes and raising public awareness.

Background

Background/Situation Aurora50, the GCC’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion impact agency, leads companies toward fairer workplaces and strives to be recognized not only as real-life diversity champions but also as major influencers in the virtual world, advocating for an equitable future.

Brief: The brief was to develop a creative solution to combat gender bias in AI, aligning with Aurora50's core values of diversity and inclusion. It required a strategic approach to foster gender equality in the digital world. Objectives: The primary objectives were to actively counter gender bias in AI, raise awareness about the issue, and reshape societal perceptions to promote gender equality.

Describe the creative idea

We used AI to fix AI itself.

We turned the tables on AI using its own tools—Midjourney, DALL-E2, and Stable Diffusion. Crafting over 80,000 inclusive and diverse images of women, we injected diversity directly into AI's veins. Our website, fixingthebias.com, became the hub, disseminating these game-changing images to AI training datasets. Beyond pixels, we educated youth through inclusive AI workshops and hosted summits on diversity. We didn't just address a problem but created a lifelong solution. With a global army of supporters, we birthed a perpetual community, a lifelong generator of images on our discord channel, dismantling AI bias, one prompt at a time. This isn't just fixing; it's a revolution in every pixel.

Describe the PR strategy

Our PR strategy was laser-focused, launching on International Women's Day to hook onto organic conversations around gender equality and leveraging wider noise around the impact of AI and its impact on society.

We developed a range of materials to reach 3rd party advocates from written content and opinion articles to visual and video to use across earned, owned and shared digital platforms.

This initial burst of activity helped garner interest in our participation in the Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAI) Plenary meeting, linked to the EU's AI Act.

The campaign's core idea, reshaping AI perceptions with inclusive images, gained continued media attention and drive conversation, creating a positive narrative on gender equality.

Once we had ignited the debates we then developed a stakeholder target list including KAY FIRTH-BUTTERFIELD, the World's First Chief AI Ethics Officer, and JANA NOVOHRADSKA, UNESCO Representative and other policymakers to join our movement.

Describe the PR execution

The PR execution for Fixing the bAIs was meticulously planned and executed with a targeted media engagement strategy.

The timeline was condensed into an intense 48-hour period on International Women's Day, leveraging the global conversations around the topic.

The scale of the campaign was international, covering 10+ core markets alongside the UAE.

The implementation included developing a launch media communication announcement, complete with key proofpoints, fast facts, and background information. This content was then translated into several languages for wider dissemination.

Additionally, the campaign featured direct engagement with key spokespeople, tailored content, and imagery for various target media outlets.

Post-launch, a sustained effort was made through thought-leadership content and stakeholder information, directly reaching key individuals and organisations identified as opinion formers.

This comprehensive strategy ensured the campaign's visibility, relevance, and impact across diverse channels and markets.

List the results

Fixing the bAIs garnered remarkable results across various dimensions. Since the tool was created, 52 countries were inspired to implement a rule of law in AI policies. Presented at the United Nations, Fixing the bAIs has been called a “concrete solution” to “eradicate gender bias”.

“Fixing the bAIs is a concrete solution to eradicate gender bias in artificial intelligence,” said Jana Novohradska, UNESCO representative for Slovak and gender equality rapporteur for the Council of Europe’s AI committee.

In terms of media outputs, the campaign achieved extensive and high-quality coverage across reputable platforms, including Yahoo Finance, Al Arabiya, Khaleej Times, and Campaign Middle East resulting in an amazing 4Billion impressions.

Crucially we targeted the creative community with a series of narratives designed to spark conversation amongst agencies and in-house marketeers on how the industry can help lead the change needed.

Our website, fixingthebias.com, generated 6000% increase in site traffic from 10+ countries, with Double the global benchmark of average website engagement time.

Beyond pixels, we educated youth through inclusive AI workshops and hosted summits on diversity. We didn't just address a problem but created a lifelong solution. With a global army of supporters, we birthed a perpetual community, a lifelong generator of images on our discord channel, dismantling AI bias, one prompt at a time

The coverage depth was substantial, delivering a positive tone and effectively communicating the campaign's message. The brand secured a staggering $4.5 million in earned media without any monetary investment, highlighting the campaign's efficiency and impact.

Please tell us how the brand purpose inspired the work

The Fixing the bAIs campaign is a living embodiment of Aurora50's brand purpose, rooted in the ardent belief that diversity, equity, and inclusion should be celebrated, realised, and normalised.

Fueled by a genuine passion for positive change, the campaign tackles gender bias in AI, aligning seamlessly the brand's vision of shaping an inclusive future.

The campaign is an embodiment of their vision of Shaping an inclusive future, for the betterment of working generations to come. Their mission to build a business ecosystem where diversity drives transformation finds expression in Fixing the bAIs.

It dares to challenge biases, leads with profound impact, and propels humanity forward. The campaign isn't just a strategic initiative; it's a manifestation of the brand's purpose and commitment to create a world where diversity thrives, equity prevails, and inclusion is the guiding norm for generations to come.

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