AI in Communications, Part 1: Are We Just Calling Everything “AI”?

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing a short series of posts about AI and communications. Not predictions about the future, and not hype about the latest tools. Just a practical look at how organizations are talking about AI today, where there is confusion, and what communications leaders can do to bring clarity to the conversation.

There’s a scene in The Graduate where a group of adults pull Dustin Hoffman aside and offer him career advice in one word: “Plastics.”

For my generation, the equivalent advice from parents and other adults was: “Computers.”

It was well-intentioned. But it was also vague. "Computers" covered an enormous range of possibilities that most people didn’t fully understand.

So, now we find ourselves here, today, where I wonder if “AI” has become the modern version of that advice.

At the past two conferences I attended, I asked a simple question during discussions about AI:

“Are we just using AI as a broad term for technology?”

The response was mostly blank faces.

That moment stuck with me because it revealed something important. In many organizations, we’re talking about AI before we’ve actually defined what we mean.

When that happens, the conversation quickly becomes fuzzy. Different people are imagining very different things.

For example, when someone says their company “needs AI,” they might mean:

• Automating repetitive tasks

• Using generative tools to draft content

• Advanced analytics and predictive modeling

• A smarter search function in their intranet

• Or simply “something more modern than what we have now”

Those are very different capabilities. Yet they are often bundled together under one label.

If we don’t define the problem clearly, it becomes very difficult to make smart decisions about the tools.

The Question I Always Ask (and you can, too)

When AI comes up in a conversation, I usually ask a follow-up:

“What exactly do you think you need AI to do for your business?”

That question often slows the conversation down. Which is a good thing. Once people start answering, the discussion becomes more productive. Instead of chasing a trend, we start identifying actual problems.

Some common answers include:

• We spend too much time drafting repetitive communications

• Our teams struggle to find information quickly

• We need better ways to analyze employee feedback

• We want to move faster when developing content

Now we are talking about specific operational challenges, not just technology.

And that’s the moment when AI can start becoming useful.

Where Communications Teams Fit In

For communications leaders, this lack of clarity creates both a challenge and an opportunity.

The challenge is obvious: AI conversations are happening quickly, and communications teams are often asked to help explain initiatives that are still poorly defined.

But there is also an opportunity.

Communicators are often the people in an organization who know how to ask the questions that bring structure to messy conversations.

Before any major technology initiative is rolled out, someone needs to help clarify:

• What problem are we solving?

• Who will use the solution?

• How will it change the way people work?

• What would success actually look like?

Those are communication questions as much as they are technology questions.

A More Practical Conversation

AI will absolutely influence the future of work, including communications. But the most productive conversations I’ve seen are not about the technology itself.

They are about:

• The problems teams are trying to solve

• The workflows that could be improved

• The decisions leaders need to make before tools are introduced

Once those pieces are clear, the technology becomes much easier to evaluate.

And often the solution turns out to be smaller and more practical than people initially imagined.

Looking Ahead

In the next posts in this series, I’ll explore a few related topics:

• Why many companies are implementing AI without a strategy

• How communications teams can start small and experiment responsibly

• The real conversation managers should be having about entry-level roles and AI

• The governance and data privacy questions every organization should answer before expanding AI use

Before we tell every young professional to go into AI, we should probably decide what we actually mean by it.

If your organization is starting to explore AI tools and wants to have a thoughtful conversation about where they can actually support communications work, feel free to reach out. I’ve been working with teams to cut through some of the noise and focus on practical use cases.

And if there are AI or communications topics you’d like to see explored in upcoming posts in this series, send me a message. I’d love to include questions and ideas that others are wrestling with as well.