Cision, the leading global communications and media intelligence platform, is pleased to announce the appointment of Antony Cousins as Executive Director of AI Strategy, effective immediately.
Cousins joined Cision through the acquisition of Factmata in November 2022. He is an accredited public relations practitioner who honed his PR and communications expertise in a variety of roles in UK Government organizations, including the Ministry of Defence, Home Office and Cabinet Office. Notably, Cousins provided press relations for British Forces deployed in Afghanistan, worked in counterterrorism and in strategy across the Middle East during the Arab Spring or “social media revolutions.”
After his period of public sector service, inspired by the power of social media, Cousins spent a decade in artificial intelligence technology leadership roles, including serving as the CEO of Factmata, an AI marketing technology company focused on identifying fake news and other forms of harmful online content.
In the newly created role of Executive Director for AI Strategy, Cousins will be responsible for advancing Cision’s AI strategy. This agenda includes rapidly integrating Factmata’s technologies for detecting harmful online content and narrative monitoring into Cision’s new products and platforms. He will also oversee the development of powerful generative text–driven solutions with the reliability that corporate, government and agency communications teams demand, and will ensure that Cision continues to develop AI solutions responsibly and ethically, ensuring compliance with regulatory frameworks emerging in the US, UK, Europe and beyond.
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Of his new role, Cousins said, “Cision is the only company in the industry with both the breadth and depth of contextually relevant data as well as the in-house engineering and communications industry expertise to responsibly deliver reliable, truly value-generating AI-enhanced services to our customers. I look forward to helping our global PR and communications clients take best advantage of the opportunities AI provides.”
Cousins will also be playing a role in amplifying the communications industry’s perspective in AI working groups through his recent appointment as co-chair of the Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communications (AMEC) tech hub. He also has a long-standing role as member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) London Group. Additionally, Cousins is a member of the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Artificial Intelligence (APPG AI) and, through Factmata, is a founding member of the Credibility Coalition and UK Safety Technology Networks.
These leadership roles will help Cousins ensure that Cision, and the broader communications industry, continues to benefit from the rapid application of revolutionary technologies while respecting and protecting the power of public relations professionals, and the institutions they represent, to shape public dialogue.
Jay Webster, Chief Product Officer at Cision, commented, “I could not think of a better person to lead Cision, and the industry more broadly, in the application of AI. With his first-hand communications and technology experience, Antony deeply understands the challenges and the opportunities that AI provides to the discipline of communications and media intelligence.”
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