By Sandra Stahl
The communications landscape is changing every day. Sometimes, change takes place in the background. We know what’s going on, but it doesn’t impact our day-to-day and is almost part of the ‘wallpaper’ of our profession. Other times, the change is more noticeable. Which is the case with AI.
Not sure I’ve ever written a bigger understatement.
AI is a source of great opinion, debate, competition, and aspiration. Two topics seem especially top-of-mind. One is the sheer volume of output. Is more better? And the other is the association of AI with efficiency. Is faster a goal? And if so, what is the impact on roles, responsibilities and the value of the research deep dive? Of experience?
“Most careers will be upended in unexpected ways by AI,” said Sree Sreenivasan, CEO and co-founder of Digimentors, a social /digital/events + AI training firm. He is also former Chief Digital Officer of NYC, the Met Museum and Columbia University and co-host of the annual Nobel Peace Conference.
“The truth is that once AI is embedded in the day-to-day of anyone’s professional life, it becomes real. It’s exciting. Every industry is or will be affected. It opens eyes and doors to what’s new and now possible. But we also need to be vigilant about the entire picture,” Sree continued.
“More’ requires stronger narratives and content
The sheer plenty of information at our fingertips doesn’t make us smarter or more knowledgeable or more confident. Indeed, ‘more’ can overwhelm, distract and confuse. It can also breed distrust when some information says one thing and some information says another, or worse still, the opposite. As with most things, more by itself isn’t better. The value is what we do with it.
The way algorithms work provides communicators with opportunity for handling ‘more.’ One opportunity is the increasing need for strong narratives and content. These need to work harder and provide:
- Clarity
- Messages that are simplified and that make the complex (like science) simple
- Explainers
- Repetition
It has also increased the value of third-party voices and earned media (traditional, social, Substack), LinkedIn articles and clear, informative, content with heart on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Spotify, etc.
All of this (just to name just a few deliverables) is squarely in our comms wheelhouse.
Efficiency
Sree and I also discussed the various sides of ‘efficiency’ associated with AI. The darker associations are less attention and respect for experience, nuance and detail, reduced headcount, reduced budgets and speed at the expense of quality and authenticity.
“Efficiency really can be a scary word. It makes it seem that faster and cheaper is better, “ he said. “We know, of course, this is not so. I always keep in mind a conversation I had with a former boss of mine who told me, ‘Sree, what I’m paying you for is your best, most thoughtful counsel. I’m not interested in Insta-counsel.’ My boss was looking for me to give him original thinking and creative and evidence-based solutions. He wanted a depth of intelligence from my experience and that of my contacts and research. He knew my work was my own. This is why he trusted me. While I needed to deliver in a timely fashion, the value was never about efficiency.”
A way forward is to be realistic about AI, learn more and try it. The benefits are just as important as the land mines. Before AI, for example, there was rarely a question about the human behind the work. Consider the scandals now in the literary world when books have been cancelled once it was discovered they were AI-written.
Part of being realistic comes down to what it is about our experience, thinking and individualism that is valuable to a brand, a company, a leader, a client. What about us or what we’ve got to offer is unique, will make a difference to brand impact and growth, provide information that impacts decisions and next steps? And then leverage AI. This is an approach I’m taking with a new offering, because ‘more’ requires the kind of actionable synthesis that can only be driven by deep (in my case 30+ years) human experience coupled with technological savvy.
Sree put it this way, “The best endorsement of your work, AI-supported or not, is the trust in it and in you.”
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