{"id":41639,"date":"2025-03-05T15:56:28","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T20:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=41639"},"modified":"2025-03-05T15:58:23","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T20:58:23","slug":"the-new-thought-leader","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/articles\/the-new-thought-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"The New Thought Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin bu-blocks-block-editorial-leadin is-style-default has-media has-media-focus-center-middle\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container-lockup\">\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-leadin-media\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" src=\"\/com\/files\/2025\/03\/com-365-kelly-sullivan-ai.jpg\" class=\"\" alt=\"Kelly Sullivan headshot\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2025\/03\/com-365-kelly-sullivan-ai.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2025\/03\/com-365-kelly-sullivan-ai-636x358.jpg 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2025\/03\/com-365-kelly-sullivan-ai-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2025\/03\/com-365-kelly-sullivan-ai-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2025\/03\/com-365-kelly-sullivan-ai-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2025\/03\/com-365-kelly-sullivan-ai-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2025\/03\/com-365-kelly-sullivan-ai-992x558.jpg 992w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2025\/03\/com-365-kelly-sullivan-ai-1500x844.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2025\/03\/com-365-kelly-sullivan-ai-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2025\/03\/com-365-kelly-sullivan-ai-1984x1116.jpg 1984w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2025\/03\/com-365-kelly-sullivan-ai-1628x916.jpg 1628w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2025\/03\/com-365-kelly-sullivan-ai-1600x900.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2025\/03\/com-365-kelly-sullivan-ai-1366x768.jpg 1366w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2025\/03\/com-365-kelly-sullivan-ai-1280x720.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2025\/03\/com-365-kelly-sullivan-ai-854x480.jpg 854w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin-caption wp-prepress-component-caption\">Photo by Chris Sorenson<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-outer\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-inner\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"head\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe New Thought Leader\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"deck\">Weber Shandwick Exec Kelly Sullivan is excited about AI and is shaping how organizations use it<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-categories\">\n\t\t\t<ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/category\/alumni\/\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlumni\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/category\/com-365\/\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCOM\/365\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">March 5, 2025<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul data-credit-type=\"By\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/authors\/marc-chalufour\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMarc Chalufour\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t<div style=\"display:none;\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-share-tools\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-share-tools-inner js-prepress-component-share-tools\">\n\t\t<h4>Share<\/h4>\n\t\t<p class=\"wp-prepress-component-share-tools-article-title\">The New Thought Leader<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-share-tools-article-link\">\n\t\t\t<div>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" value=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/articles\/the-new-thought-leader\/\" readonly>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<label>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Copy URL:<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<button class=\"js-prepress-component-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>Copy<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\t\t<\/label>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Kelly Sullivan is an artificial intelligence evangelist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two years after ChatGPT made generative AI publicly accessible, she\u2019s helping organizations put what she calls \u201cthe ultimate technology disruption\u201d to work. \u201cI get real excited about this,\u201d she says at the start of a recent interview. \u201cYou might have to tell me to rein it in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sullivan (\u201994,\u201996), an executive vice president at the global communications agency Weber Shandwick, works in a division called Futures. The self-proclaimed \u201cAI accelerator\u201d has simplified a Fortune 500 company\u2019s cumbersome access to business intelligence by designing a bot that employees access through Microsoft Teams. They\u2019ve built a \u201csandbox\u201d to safely experiment with generative AI tools without training public AI models. And their narrative intelligence tools analyze how information and misinformation spread through networks\u2014and who, or what, is doing that spreading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no shortage of people pontificating about whether generative AI is going to ruin the world or be our savior. Everybody\u2019s talking about that,\u201d Sullivan says. \u201cAnd they\u2019re important conversations. Our charter is to dig into the platforms, to understand what they mean for our work, and ultimately, the future of comms.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a test-block-editorial-q-and-a\"><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-title\"><h2 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-title-heading\">Q<span>&amp;<\/span>A<\/h2><h4 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-title-subheading\">With Kelly Sullivan, Executive Vice President at Weber Shandwick<\/h4><\/div>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COM\/365:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">What&#8217;s the history of the Futures team?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Kelly Sullivan:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\"> When our chief innovation officer asked me to partner with him on this about five years ago, to help leaders decode tech-fueled media change, I jumped at the chance. Our charter is to help our clients\u2014whether you\u2019re a healthcare innovator or a global nonprofit or a consumer brand\u2014to think about navigating technology disruption. It wasn\u2019t originally the intent to focus on AI. But we realized that it was supercharging everything in our orbit\u2014media fragmentation, new influence, immersive experiences. Technology disrupting communications isn\u2019t new, but this time it\u2019s much faster, it\u2019s much more existential. So it\u2019s never been a more<br>exciting time to do what we do.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COM\/365:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">How does Futures fit into Weber Shandwick?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Kelly Sullivan:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">We\u2019re a media lab that\u2019s all about clients. This is not a group of people researching cool stuff and trying new tools for the sake of it. We are all about the applications and implications of generative AI. Some clients will come to us and say, \u201cWe don\u2019t understand what generative AI means to our business. Can you help?&#8221; But others are saying, &#8220;I have  a problem with x. What do you think we should do?\u201d How do we figure out what\u2019s keeping a client up at night, and how do we fix it? That\u2019s kind of our jam.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COM\/365:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">So you were thinking about AI even before ChatGPT went<br>public in 2022?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Kelly Sullivan:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">Yes. For us, that moment was awesome because it took a conversation that may have been more on the fringes and really put it front and center. It has been quite a whirlwind in the last two years.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COM\/365:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">What do you say to someone who\u2019s hesitant to use<br>generative AI?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Kelly Sullivan:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">I totally get it. I used to feel that way. There are important things we all must be vigilant about\u2014ethical use and confidentiality are just a couple. Once you get into the platforms, when you see how important it is to get the prompts sharp, how important your own perspective is to generating meaningful outputs, when you realize that the value comes from having an exchange with the platforms versus a transaction, it changes everything. It continues to amaze me\u2014the impact and the possibilities and the new applications that we\u2019re just starting to realize.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COM\/365:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">What sort of requests do you get from clients?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Kelly Sullivan:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">When we started Futures, the questions were surprisingly consistent. How do I orient to this overwhelming thing? How do I help a team think about this totally new vector in the work that we do? How do I make the work better today? Over the last six to eight months, the questions have started to get sharper. Clients might ask us to upskill their whole staff, to help them apply AI tools to their strategic comms works. That\u2019s particularly interesting, because it\u2019s not so much a technology problem as a culture problem. They\u2019re also asking about things like machine readability. What happens when people don\u2019t have Google open as much on their<br>desktop? What happens when people are going to LLMs [large language models] versus search engines?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COM\/365:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">Do you have a favorite project you&#8217;ve worked on?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Kelly Sullivan:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">One project our Mexico colleagues led that I just love was for a news organization called <em>Animal Politico<\/em>. They wanted to raise awareness about mis- and disinformation during an election cycle. They thought, \u201cWe have a moment to do this in a way that will stand out.\u201d So they created a fact checker. Anyone could throw a story in and it would tell them if it was true or false, using AI. If the system said the story was false, it went to a team of designers who used MidJourney [an AI art tool] to create incredibly visceral images that they posted in a Gallery of Lies. This was a really powerful way to help people understand what\u2019s true and what\u2019s false by creating an unmissable moment that people couldn\u2019t turn away from.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COM\/365:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">How do you help clients navigate the ethics of AI usage?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Kelly Sullivan:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">It\u2019s a huge part of what we do. This is a major change for how we do things and how clients do things. It\u2019s one of the reasons we don\u2019t use just one platform. We want to be constantly looking at how everyone is revisiting their guidelines and protocols to make sure everything we do is returning the most ethical results and we\u2019re not falling prey to bias that can exist in systems. We have brought on some partners with specific expertise to help us dig into that.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COM\/365:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">How do you use AI in your workday?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Kelly Sullivan:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">I use ChatGPT as a thought partner. For example, \u201cHere\u2019s something that I just wrote\u2014the audience is this, here\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to convey, What points am I missing?\u201d I never use exactly what comes out, but it helps me think. I\u2019m also regularly experimenting with new agents. The latest mindblower? NotebookLM. Have you tried the podcast generator? Wow. It\u2019s glitchy, but it certainly gets you thinking about what\u2019s possible. <br><br>Sometimes I\u2019m running from meeting to meeting and I\u2019m stuck. What ChatGPT produces is 80 percent crap, but it\u2019s something to respond to. Sometimes responding to, as opposed to initiating, can really help get my<br>brain moving.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COM\/365:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">In education, there\u2019s a tension between the value of learning to use AI tools and the opportunities they create to cheat. Is<br>there a balance to strike?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Kelly Sullivan:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">We\u2019re all still figuring this out\u2014and, for sure, there is a balance to be found. AI absolutely changes the learning dynamic, and I think we\u2019re going to have to figure out how to help students use the tools in ways that help them learn. I believe there are many opportunities to use generative AI to expand our opinions and perspectives as opposed to replacing them.<br><br>We have a Futures Fellows program that\u2019s open to college students, graduate students and recent grads. Last summer, they all came to this role with what we started calling the \u201celectric fence perspective\u201d on generative AI. One fellow went to journalism school and was told, \u201cIf you use it, it\u2019s plagiarism.\u201d Another was advised they could use it in one class but not in another. Overwhelmingly, they were told, \u201cStay away!\u201d But in the professional business universe, it\u2019s not just acceptable, it\u2019s increasingly expected that you\u2019ll use gen AI to fuel your work\u2014and do so strategically and ethically. So, indeed, the balance is TBD.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COM\/365:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">What&#8217;s on the horizon?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Kelly Sullivan:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">There\u2019s lots cooking. One thing that\u2019s exciting is the work around narrative intelligence. That is understanding how a topic or a conversation is advancing through information networks and who is driving that. Are they people? Are they bots? Are they of a particular political party? Understanding what makes something go from zero to zeitgeist is really interesting.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-default\"><em>This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kelly Sullivan is an artificial intelligence evangelist. 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