From the Strategy Open House to the AI PR Incubator: how VM Academy is developing the next generation of professional judgment.
Before a prospective client speaks to your team, AI may already have helped them assemble a shortlist. They can compare suppliers, summarize industry evidence and form an initial view with remarkable speed. The harder question begins afterwards: which claim deserves confidence, which option should be chosen, and who will take responsibility for that choice?
Last week, we introduced the Third Room — the space in which a company is absent but judgments about it continue. On Tuesday, we described the Human × AI Decision Loop: AI organizes information; people question, verify and choose; market feedback then informs what an organization does next. For VM Academy, that progression raises a question about the profession itself. As production becomes easier, how do we develop people capable of making sound decisions?
The purpose of public relations is not simply to produce messages. It is to influence how stakeholders understand, trust and decide across situations and channels. A journalist chooses what to investigate. A buyer assesses risk. A potential employee decides where to grow. An investor determines which team deserves support. None of these decisions can be reduced to the quality of a single piece of copy.
We once focused largely on influence among people. Today, AI is both an information interface and part of the environment through which influence takes shape. People question AI; AI recombines evidence created by people; people then challenge or act on the output. More content alone will not resolve the gap between what is discoverable and what is credible.
In a survey of 645 B2B buyers reported by Gartner in May 2026, 45% had used generative AI in a recent purchase, while 69% preferred to validate AI-generated insights with sales representatives. The sample is not a measure of public relations performance, but it illustrates why human verification and accountability remain important even when AI accelerates research.
Imagine a company preparing to enter Japan. AI can produce a polished market-entry presentation: competitors, potential media, buyers and channels. But which audience should come first? What evidence is sufficient? Which opportunity warrants scarce budget? Which capability must remain in-house, and which should be entrusted to a specialist partner? What happens when the initial assumption proves wrong?
Answering these questions requires problem framing, evidence assessment, an understanding of professional boundaries, resource allocation and ownership of outcomes. VM has long used the term Business Manager for a person able to bring those responsibilities together. Decision-making is neither a title nor something to delegate to a chatbot. It is a professional capability that can be practiced and tested.
The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 found analytical thinking to be a core skill for 69% of surveyed employers, followed by resilience and flexibility, leadership and social influence among the leading capabilities. AI and big data were identified among the fastest-growing skills. The implication is not a contest between people and machines. It is that technical literacy, judgment and collaboration must advance together.
In 2019, VM began its Public Relations Strategy Open House. Students were invited to take real situations apart: identify the stakeholders, understand constraints, choose appropriate methods and examine what a decision might produce. The intention was not to help participants memorise standard answers, but to expose them to the questions professionals confront.
That same year, our founder wrote about the New Generation talent programme and its combination of open discussions, selection and practical development. Those published records matter because they show a continuous concern: how does someone progress from reliable execution to independent judgment?
In 2026, New Generation Development Programme 2.0 clarified distinct pathways for PR Consultants and Project Consultants, placing international awareness, technology adoption and integrative capability more explicitly within the development model. It was not a rejection of past practice. Market and service requirements had changed, and the organisation revised its answer accordingly.
Further reading: A Single Lamp Lights a Thousand-Year Darkness (2019, in Chinese)
VM Academy now brings that longstanding work into a clearer Incubator pathway. It is designed for students, emerging consultants and career changers who need more than a vocabulary of public relations. They need exposure to realistic questions, constructive challenge and accountable feedback.
We want participants to practise five habits: define the real question, identify stakeholders, check evidence, compare alternatives and explain trade-offs, and revise a judgment when challenged. The willingness to recognize the limits of one's own understanding is often more valuable than a flawless first answer.
The 2026 publicly announced AI PR Decision Practice programme extends the Strategy Open House into scenarios drawn from different industries, combining AI-assisted research, communication strategy and consulting exercises. It introduces ximu, VM's platform for observing how brands are understood and compared in AI-generated environments, alongside I.Q. Lite, a standardized initial diagnostic for a specific market and business question. These are tools for evidence and inquiry, not substitutes for professional responsibility.
Further reading: Open House for 100: Case Analysis as a Tool (in Chinese)
VM Academy also has an Accelerator pathway. Professionals with sector knowledge, leadership experience and established business relationships should not be asked simply to repeat entry-level learning. Their opportunity is to apply their expertise to AI PR, cross-market operations and new service combinations, helping build businesses that they can own and develop. VM's experience of professional dialogue and cross-sector exchange, including the VM Future Salon, offers a foundation for that work.
The paths are different but their destination is shared: people who can connect market needs, service capabilities and other professionals to deliver outcomes that matter.
AI will continue to reduce the time required to research, draft and execute. That makes it more important, not less, to understand what cannot be automated away: a sense of context, credible evidence, sound trade-offs and responsibility for the people affected by a decision.
VM Academy is not an exercise in renaming yesterday's events. It is an attempt to make more than a decade of experiments — including what did not work — explicit, transferable and open to improvement. If someone reads this account years from now, we hope they will see not the launch of another programme, but an organization repeatedly asking one question: how do we help people develop the judgment, and the courage, to decide?
We welcome those interested in AI PR, professional consulting and cross-market collaboration to follow the work of VM Academy. Experienced professionals seeking to help create new markets and emerging talent seeking a professional development pathway can explore VM's official careers and collaboration channels.
By VM Academy | 5 November 2026
2019｜創辦人專欄：千年暗室，一燈即明
2019｜百人開箱！以個案解析為器
2022｜為何現在是加入布爾喬亞的最佳時機（系列一）
2026｜新聲代發展計畫2.0
2026｜傻孩子，關鍵是做決策：PPSEAWA Youth Forum
Gartner 2026｜69% B2B buyers validate AI insights with sellers
WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025
VM Careers
VM Contact
VM Academy is the knowledge and talent-development initiative of VM | VOCAL MIDDLE. It connects consulting practice, AI-native products, industry observation and talent development, progressively building Incubator and Accelerator pathways for professionals who can frame problems, orchestrate capabilities and take responsibility for decisions.
Founded in 2014, VM | VOCAL MIDDLE is an AI-Native PR Consulting Firm. Through a Strategy-First, Data-Driven and AI-Empowered approach, VM combines public relations, data technology and cross-market resources to build and govern IMAGE Assets so that brands are seen and trusted across Human × AI decision environments. Seen and Trusted by Humans & AI.
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