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Episode details

Radio 4,18 Mar 2026,22 mins

Can You Spin ChatGPT?

When It Hits the Fan

Available for over a year

In the good old days, if you wanted some favourable PR for a client, you could call up a journalist and take them out for a jolly good lunch. It's not so easy when the thing you're trying to influence is a bot. So is it possible to spin the likes of ChatGPT? This week David Yelland is joined by Lauren Beeching - a crisis management expert with clients that count their followers in millions. They discuss how AI is changing so much of the nuts and bolts of the PR reputation game - from having to become a tech wizard to work out if 'evidence' is real, to understanding how to influence what AI chatbots say. And on the extended edition on BBC Sounds, the Fan Hitter that almost broke the internet is back. The woman at the centre of the Coldplay KissCam scandal, Kristin Cabot, has done a big interview with Oprah - and discusses the PR advice she was given. She claims she was told, "Stay quiet, everything will blow over in three days." Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Producer: Duncan Middleton Editor: Sarah Teasdale Executive Producer: Eve Streeter Music by Eclectic Sounds A Raconteur Studios production for BBC Radio 4

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