A LinkedIn Post in 5 Acts: Communications Leaders Coping with AI from Denial to Codependency

05.28.2024 I By Adrienne Arieff

Act One: Discovery & Curiosity

Your intern excitedly shows you an AI-generated press release they created with just a few prompts.

You scan the release with furrowed brows. "This doesn't look half bad. The messaging is on point." You shoot your intern a skeptical look. "You're telling me you didn't write a single word of this?"

The intern shakes their head. "Not a single word! I just gave Chat GPT some prompts about the new product launch and - press ready."

After some research, you decide to experiment with AI writing tools for draft content creation. The results are impressive - With a fair amount of human polish, the AI-assisted output could streamline your content pipeline.

Act Two: Optimization

You start leveraging AI across the communications workflow - from strategy prompts to creative conceptualization to first draft production. The AI becomes an idea generation partner, allowing your team to explore many more concepts and iterate faster. Your output increases substantially.

You stride into your comms meeting. "Alright, listen up! We're leveling up AI."

"But this time, we're not just using Chat GPT. I want creative concepts, messaging architectures, and updated plans."

“Let’s utilize it for concepts, then you wordsmith ideate with the team and put the human polish on the docs."

"Okay Chat GPT, I need a full-funnel creative approach for promoting our client's next-gen AI solution. Send me with 10 bold campaign concepts and some high-level messaging territories to explore for each one."

Your team leans in, writing notes as the ideas are being shared.

You quickly start to realize AI is just helping your teams get their work done faster. The AI has helped them brainstorm a bit quicker.

Act Three: Integration

With AI handling more first draft creation, your team is freed up for higher-level work - nuanced messaging, expert positioning, impactful storytelling. You use AI as a force multiplier while maintaining a human editorial layer. The AI tools are now core to your "Integrated Intelligence" communications process.

Act Four: Transformation

You realize AI can totally uplevel your organization's communications cycle. Your team shifts into more of an oversight role - providing directional prompts, setting strategies, and highly curating AI-generated options. This exponentially increases creative throughput and accelerates speed-to-market. The AI has become your co-pilot.

Act Five: Reconciliation

Your integrated human+AI approach allows you to reallocate resources for deeper strategic thinking and creativity. While AI assists the process, it's your team's talent that produces the truly differentiated work that builds brand affinity. You've embraced an AI-augmented future while doubling down on the irreplaceable value of your incredible human colleagues who have experience, taste, an aesthetic, passion, listen and all wicked sense of humors.

AI really is the future and its in all we do. Your AI therapist agrees with you. You scroll through AI-generated images of models in a Meta campaign. Yes, there is a bright future ahead with some wildly weird AI that has become more accepted, you think to yourself as you put down your phone to eat some pasta made from 3D-printed synthetic wheat.

While AI capabilities can accelerate and augment many tasks, the irreplaceable talents of seasoned communications executives  - the studied eye of an elite creative director, the authentic story-teller who always gets the front page story of the style section in the NY Times - remain more vital than ever. Like many of my colleagues at the fractional executive collective WE ARE THE BOARD, I've witnessed how an over-reliance on AI alone, can lead to subpar outputs or require far more invested time editing. As communications leaders, we must leverage AI's potential while respecting its limitations compared to the uniquely human mastery, diverse experiences, and blended analytical/creative perspectives for nuanced branding, creative concepts, media relations, messaging, crisis response and more. Its good to be a real human~!

To learn more or to reach out about working together, contact me, April Uchitel or WE ARE THE BOARD .

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