How to use AI and technology to complement your communications work
Every week seems to bring another story about a new AI tool, another company automating work or another prediction about the future of work. It's easy to see why so many people are wondering where they fit into an AI-enabled workplace. According to AI strategist and futurist Bosco Anthony, that's the wrong way to think about it. As Bosco explains “AI isn't coming for your jobs. AI is coming for the inefficiencies."
That one statement completely changes the conversation. Instead of asking whether AI will replace communicators, we should be asking how it can help us remove repetitive work, improve the way we communicate and free up more time for the strategic thinking, creativity and relationship-building that only humans can provide.
So, where should communicators start?
Use AI to eliminate repetitive work
One of the easiest ways to begin using AI is by looking at the tasks that take up your day but don't necessarily require your expertise.
Think about how much time you spend summarising meeting notes, proofreading documents, creating FAQs, repurposing content across multiple channels or producing the first draft of an announcement. While those tasks are important, they're often time-consuming and repetitive, which is where AI can make an immediate difference.
Rather than spending an hour reformatting the same message for email, intranet and Teams, AI can create those first versions in minutes. It can summarise lengthy reports, identify key themes from workshops and even help structure communication plans.
That doesn't mean publishing whatever AI produces. It means allowing AI to do the heavy lifting so you can focus on refining the message, considering your audience and ensuring the communication achieves its purpose. Ultimately, AI should give communicators more time to think strategically, not simply help us produce more content.
Learn how to communicate with AI
One of the biggest things that every expert harps on about AI is that success comes down to creating and writing the right prompts. Bosco believes communicators are already well positioned to succeed because the quality of AI output depends on the quality of the communication you put into it, a.k.a, the better your brief, the better the result.
Instead of typing a vague instruction and hoping AI understands what you mean, approach it the same way you would brief a communications consultant or agency. The more context you provide, the stronger the output will be.
Ironically, this means that AI may not actually be making communication skills less important, but rather, making them even more valuable.
Look beyond ChatGPT
For many of us, AI starts and ends with tools like ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. They're fantastic places to begin, but Bosco believes we're already moving into the next stage of AI adoption: the rise of agentic AI. The AI systems that don't just generate content but actually complete tasks and automate workflows.
Some examples from Bosco include using AI to respond to prospective students outside Australian business hours, answering questions, booking appointments and providing support before a human ever becomes involved. Rather than replacing staff, the technology complements them by ensuring enquiries don't sit unanswered overnight.
Understanding these broader applications helps communicators identify opportunities to improve both employee and customer experiences, while also contributing more strategically to organisational change.
Stay curious and keep experimenting
Every major technological shift has rewarded the people who were willing to experiment and AI is no different. Noting this doesn't mean every tool will be perfect or every output will be accurate. AI still makes mistakes, whether by misunderstanding context or confidently delivering the wrong answer.
However, the more you use AI, the better you'll understand its strengths, its limitations and where it can genuinely add value to your work. So, rather than waiting until you feel like an expert, start exploring now: test different prompts, trial different platforms or compare outputs and keep learning.
The communicators who will thrive won't necessarily be the ones with the most technical knowledge, but the ones who remain curious enough to keep adapting.
Keep humans in the loop
As impressive as AI has become: humans still have an essential role to play. Sure, AI can draft content, analyse data and automate repetitive processes. However, it can't understand the political landscape of your organisation, navigate sensitive conversations or recognise the emotional impact a message may have on employees… nor can it always distinguish fact from fiction.
Which is why we all keep banging on about the fact that communicators remain responsible for quality control.Every AI-generated piece of work should be reviewed with a critical eye. You need to check the facts, consider the context and ask yourself whether the message reflects your organisation's culture and values.
Human judgement, empathy and ethical decision-making are becoming the very skills that set great communicators apart.
Invest in AI literacy
Perhaps the biggest takeaway for us all is to create opportunities for employees to build AI literacy through experimentation, innovation sessions and ongoing education. Waiting until AI is fully understood simply isn't realistic because the technology is evolving far too quickly.
For us communicators, AI literacy doesn't mean becoming a programmer or technical expert, so don’t start stressing. It simply means understanding where AI can support your work, recognising its limitations and feeling confident enough to recommend when it should or shouldn't be used.
Like any new technology before it, AI will continue to evolve. The more comfortable communicators become with experimenting today, the better prepared they'll be for tomorrow.
The future is human (but AI is coming, too)
The opportunity we have is to use AI to complement the work we already do, like removing repetitive tasks, improving our thinking and creating more time for the strategic, creative and human-centred work that organisations value most.
However, while AI will continue to become smarter, faster and more capable - organisations will always need communicators who can provide judgement, empathy, context and trust. Those are the skills that technology can't replace.
