The best communicators aren’t worried about AI taking their jobs, they’re finding ways to use it as a competitive advantage.
Lindsay Gladu, KWI’s Head of Strategic Operations, explores how AI can be a true productivity partner and shares practical tips on how to leverage AI for greater efficiency without losing the human touch that makes communication meaningful.
Here’s the truth: Your job isn’t disappearing, it’s evolving.
In a fast-paced communications world where expectations are often high and timelines are tight, AI gives communicators something we desperately need: more space to think, create and lead.
At KWI, we believe the real question isn’t, “Will AI take my job?” but “How can I leverage AI to give myself more time for higher-value work?”
From sparking ideas to summarizing dense reports, AI can help clear your to-do list, and with the proper governance guardrails in place, it can become a creative superpower allowing you to focus on what really matters: connecting with people.
Not sure where to start? Here are five ways communicators are using AI to improve their productivity.
- Content ideation: Struggling to come up with your next campaign theme or blog topic? AI tools can help spark ideas, refine messaging angles or surface trends that are shaping your industry.
- Summarizing information: AI is excellent at distilling lengthy meeting notes or technical reports into organized, digestible and usable formats. For my professional services colleagues, be sure you’re following cybersecurity and NDA guidelines with clients. Open AI is still the wild West and not a place to put confidential information.
- Audience segmentation: Do you need to tailor your content by geography, role or persona? AI can help you deliver your message angled towards specific audience types, making communications more relevant and effective.
- Refining and repurposing original content: Need to turn a CEO message into a LinkedIn post, internal email and an intranet story? AI can help you adapt one unique asset into multiple formats while keeping tone and purpose intact — saving you time and duplicative effort.
- Grab a head start on a first draft: AI is great for generating outlines and first drafts, giving you more time to refine your storytelling and add more depth to your content.
What AI Doesn’t Do
AI can draft a message, but it can’t decide why that message matters, how to deliver it or when to send it. That’s still your job. You are still the communicator, the strategist, and the voice of empathy and clarity in a noisy world. Some messages, like crisis communications, are better left in human hands. Only you can tailor the narrative and tone necessary to navigate red-tape, a crisis or a dicey culture shift.
At KWI, we continue to watch how AI is evolving and have put some guardrails in place to ensure AI increases our productivity without compromising our brand voice, the quality or integrity of our work.
Here are a few guidelines to consider:
- Always keep humans in the loop: AI can draft; people refine.
- Voice and tone are key: Our voice is unique and so is yours. We constantly review content, whether it’s original or written with AI assistance, to ensure alignment.
- Data sensitivity: No confidential or proprietary information should ever be entered into public tools.
- Transparency matters: If AI played a role in creating content (such as helping to organize notes to create the outline for this blog), we’re honest about it.
Imagine: What would you do with more time?
Personally, I would figure out how to get dinner ready before 8 p.m. (my personal final frontier in time management). Whether it’s diving deeper into strategy, mentoring a colleague or finding more time to think creatively, AI can help make that possible.
The future of communications is not about choosing between a human and a machine. It’s about harnessing the best of both to tell more compelling stories, solve bigger problems, and lead with greater intention.
And that’s a future I’m excited to be a part of.
