It’s no secret that artificial intelligence (AI) has been shaking things up in the business world, especially in both employee and external communications. On their surface, Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, CoPilot and Gemini can whip up content that once took hours of human effort in no time, making life a lot easier for busy professionals — including business leaders with P&L ownership and lean budgets. But despite its convenience, AI isn’t quite ready to take the reins of wordsmithing all by itself. Solely relying on LLMs to generate effective content could lead to some costly missteps.
When LinkedIn, corporate SharePoint sites, and press releases are chock full of the generic, flowery language produced by AI, creating engaging content matters now more than ever to “stop the scroll” and impact bottom-line results. For leaders who might be tempted to use AI as a one-stop shop to drive all their communication activities, it’s essential to remember that human experience, empathy and thoughtful strategy are irreplaceable. Embracing AI is great, but blending it with human communicators’ insight is what can truly drive success.
Tempted to use AI for content creation? Keep these insights in mind:
AI Tools Are Incredibly Powerful, But They Aren’t Autonomous (Yet): Generative AI has transformed the way businesses approach content creation. From generating blog posts and social media updates to crafting personalized emails, AI is able to handle a variety of tasks with impressive speed. However, trained communications experts should still oversee the process to ensure the content is authentic and aligned with the company's voice and strategic objectives — not simply sharing words that could be rife with hallucinations and potentially create more costs or headaches down the road.
AI Can Make Mistakes and Can Be Fraught With Security Risks: Large language models can make errors in interpreting and generating messages, leading to unintended misinformation or crises. Though it’s tempting to prompt LLMs with walls of text, plugging in confidential information, such as internally-facing company updates or other private data, isn’t forgotten by ChatGPT or similar tools. Most models can use these inputs to train responses, making sensitive data susceptible and open to the public domain. Balancing the advantages of generative AI with a vigilant approach to its limitations ensures more responsible and secure communication. After all, if data is the new oil, why would you give yours up so freely?
AI-Savvy Communicators Driving Strategic Communications Can Create Better Results: Good communicators will be able to leverage AI to enhance their productivity and help drive better business results. There are a myriad of tools available for communicators and business leaders looking to compare and contrast LLMs out there to help execute communications. Savvy communicators will wield LLMs to maximize efficiency and create engaging content that influences what the organization would like their audiences to know, feel and do. Treating AI as one tool to be wielded by strategic communicators rather than a stand-in for an entire function can yield better outcomes for you and your organization.
The key to leveraging AI lies in striking a balance between technological capability and human know-how. AI is a powerful tool that when placed in the hands of savvy communicators can enhance business outcomes and organizational success. Utilize these tools to make you and your team better, not to replace experts, thoughts or functions.
Comments