Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming every part of the working world. In our most re...
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming every part of the working world. In our most recent roundtable, we brought together Communications Leaders to discuss AI in communications. This article recounts their thoughts for others wanting to learn more about the future of communications.
On Wednesday, 19th March, 2025, specialist communications recruiter, Matthew Stevenson, held a roundtable event for Communications Leaders. Bringing together experts from a variety of backgrounds, they discussed how teams are using artificial intelligence in their teams. Key takeaways include:
Keep reading to learn more.
The communications leaders in the room shared the importance of taking ownership of AI’s development within the business. There are many ways to incorporate AI technology throughout communications strategies. Adapting to new ways of working ensures the team is not missing any opportunities to deliver value.
There are many benefits to adopting AI in your team, especially when it comes to lower value tasks, such as completing awards entry drafts.
These low-value tasks are currently overwhelming communications teams, who have often shrunk over the past 24 months. Leaders that are adopting AI into workflows are finding far more value from their team members. They are empowered to spend more time and money on value-add projects. By leveraging AI tools, communications teams will be able to deliver far more benefits to the organisation.
By onboarding new technologies early on, you embed communications at the heart of change in your business.
AI taskforces are becoming increasingly common in organisations. These are multi-disciplinary groups who are tasked with finding, learning and sharing the opportunities and challenges presented by artificial intelligence. To ensure communications is represented in these taskforces, you need staff who are interested in the tools.
“Learn how to use AI and be good at using it, then you will be the people who win.”
When comms drives the AI agenda, it sends a powerful message. The team understands innovation, owns the message, and is integral to business success.
With so much transformation in the sector, leaders must also change how they measure success in communications teams. The leaders in the room shared how they are increasingly moving away from numbers and moving towards influence and trust.
Organisations are continuing to place emphasis on the strategic value that comms teams deliver. Value must be at the heart of reporting. To achieve this, communications teams are moving away from measuring their numerical outputs, i.e. how many press releases have they achieved over the quarter? Instead, they’re focusing on the impact their work delivers.
“We’re moving away from measuring outputs and towards impact.”
What does this mean? The Communications Leaders in the room shared how they’re looking at the conversations they’re a part of to decide:
It is possible to use AI tools to measure the value your team is delivering. AI is being used to track sentiment, find emerging risks, and measure content impact in real time.
For instance, one communications professional shared how their AI active listening tool “spotted something the team would never have caught.” The speed and ease in which the AI tool identified this issue allowed the team to jump on it before it escalated further.
The tool helped the team be successful in their role and gave them an excellent case study of the value their work brings.
Some leaders in the room shared their concerns around the impact of AI on incoming talent. Together, they brainstormed some of the skills that will always be required in a communications skill set:
No matter the type of content creation, creativity is always going to be key. Communications professionals will always need to be able to ideate with or without the support of AI. Their human touch brings emotional intelligence to all communications channels, ensuring they always deliver value internally and externally.
Curiosity is key to building a successful career in communications, with hiring managers actively searching for this trait in junior hires.
Intellectual curiosity ensures that Communications Managers are open to using new technologies – such as AI – in their role. However, they will not be confined to what it delivers. They will be open to exploring all routes before deciding on a route to take. This is the difference between a Prompt Engineer and a Communications Manager.
Relationship-building continues to be crucial for career growth. As the role of communications becomes more advisory than ever before, those with ambitions of being a Communications Director must be able to build strong relationships with stakeholders.
We want to thank our network of communications experts for joining us at this insightful roundtable. If you’d like to join us at our next event, be sure to register your interest.
It's clear from the conversation that artificial intelligence in communications is here to stay. However, your team must adapt to ensure tools are implemented successfully. For support in growing your team sustainably, reach out to our expert communications and PR recruiters. They can help future-proof your team and set your organisation up for long-term success.
