AI – Comms’ new and very enthusiastic intern
Spoiler alert: Artificial intelligence is here to stay.
It is reshaping how every profession works, but for communications teams, the impact feels particularly personal. Not because AI can now do graphic design, rewrite content or develop a media release, but because it changes how we assess value, risk and professionalisation.
When we consider the impact of AI on communicators’ roles, three key themes emerge. Each one creates different opportunities, risks and capability demands for communications teams.
This is not an AI “how to” blog – this is about what we need to think about as communicators in this wild new world.
1. AI is making communications more efficient
The most visible benefit of AI is efficiency. Generative AI tools can produce first drafts in seconds, summarise long documents, extract themes from research, and help test tone, clarity and accessibility before content is shared. For busy teams, this can significantly reduce time spent on repetitive, low-value tasks. AI can help you move from a blank page to something workable much faster.
Used effectively, AI can free you up to spend more time on higher-value work, strategy, relationships, audience research and quality control, rather than mundane drafting.
But efficiency comes with a catch. When content becomes easier and faster to produce, the temptation is to use it more often and create more, especially when resources are limited. But the risk is that we lose sight of our judgment, that little voice in our heads when we are writing that calls out the potential risks or other opportunities.
At Elm, we think of our AI tools – ChatGPT (aka ChattyG), Claude, Copilot (Cathy), Consensus – as a group of very keen interns. They are all smart in their own way and are very keen to please. But they are not yet at a point where we can hand over full responsibility for our work. They get things wrong, don’t always ask the right questions and sometimes make things up.
Understanding its limitations and where it can add value has given AI its rightful place on our team.
2. AI is changing the role of communications in organisations
As AI lowers the barrier to content creation, the traditional model of communications no longer works. Anyone in the organisation can generate, design and publish content themselves without involving a central team.
This doesn’t make communications less important, but it does mean the profession will need to demonstrate its value-add through judgment, strategic advice, and critical analysis. We need to bring something more to the table than just delivery.
Communicators are increasingly responsible for setting guardrails rather than approving output. We no longer have a choice but to let go of control (I know, I know…). We need to support the organisation in building capacity, help staff understand our audience, and be stewards of the organisational narrative and brand.
This also raises the stakes for professional standards. Industry bodies such as the International Association of Business Communicators have made it clear that communicators must act as active governors of AI use. That means embedding transparency, accuracy and accountability in how the organisation works.
Recent incidents underline why this matters. Deloitte Australia’s 2025 welfare compliance report, which included fabricated references linked to AI-assisted drafting, showed how quickly trust can be damaged when human oversight isn’t applied. ChatGPT doesn’t have to front up to estimates to explain the mistakes, but the department’s senior executive did.
Humans remain accountable, which means communications professionals have a responsibility to lead in understanding AI risks, identifying where human judgment must sit in the process, and putting guardrails in place to protect your organisation’s credibility, trust, and public confidence.
3. AI is changing how communication works
Beyond efficiency and role shifts, AI is changing the communication environment itself.
People are increasingly accessing information through AI tools rather than owned websites or traditional search. As AI assistants start to support actions, not just information, communicators can expect less traffic to owned channels and more high-intent engagement on platforms they don’t control.
This last Christmas shopping period saw a significant increase in the use of AI assistants, chatbots and agents in the online shopping experience, and the addition of instant checkouts and shopping research functions on AI platforms will further drive this change.
As people shift their online behaviours, their expectations about when and how they will pay attention to messages (especially the ‘less sexy’ government information) will change. Content needs to be structured so it can be easily found, interpreted and cited by machines, not just read by humans. Clear writing, consistent terminology, strong metadata and up-to-date information become critical. Emerging practices like generative engine optimisation are no longer optional if organisations want to remain visible.
These shifts also raise new questions about measurement, credibility and trust. When audiences encounter your information indirectly, through an AI-generated summary, the margin for errors increases exponentially.
What this means for communicators
Together, these changes demand that we rethink our role, how we deliver it, and the channels we use.
Coaching and training, AI tool literacy, strategic thinking, data and analytics, content optimisation and ethical governance are no longer specialist skills. They are core professional requirements.
AI isn’t replacing communications. Our work has never mattered more.
But we need to ensure it’s placed in its rightful place. In a world where our AI tools churn out mountains of content like overly enthusiastic interns, communicators need to add value in new ways.