The role of AI in internal communications
You’re not likely to lose your job to AI, at least not yet. But you very well may lose your job to someone who knows how to use it.
What is AI and Chat GTP and why should internal communication teams care?
AI – or artificial intelligence, to give it its full name – has been around for years.
We’ve all been using AI in our everyday lives for a while now. Maybe you just asked Alexa to set a reminder. Later you might browse Netflix to find a film based on your previous viewing habits.
A more recent innovation, ChatGTP (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer), is essentially a sophisticated chatbot that can help people create copy. It became one of the fastest growing consumer software applications this year – so it’s natural to wonder about the future of writing-based jobs, particularly communication roles.
With this in mind it’s worth remembering that AI isn’t built to replace us, but to help us be more efficient and effective. And this means learning how to use it and adapting and reshaping the way we work.
What does ChatGTP reckon?
We asked ChatGTP for its ‘thoughts’:
The Future of Copywriting
Rather than spelling the end for human copywriters, AI is more likely to serve as a valuable tool to enhance their capabilities. As AI continues to evolve, it can assist human copywriters in several ways:
Efficiency: AI can handle repetitive and time-consuming tasks, allowing human copywriters to focus on higher-level creative work.
Data Analysis: AI can provide valuable insights and recommendations based on data analysis, helping human copywriters make more informed decisions.
Collaboration: Copywriters can collaborate with AI tools to refine and optimize their content, resulting in a synergy that produces high-quality output.
Does the robot know this? No – it’s just scoured online discussions on the subject and pulled together the bits and pieces it needs to answer the question.
Does AI create generic copy?
If you’ve read or produced copy using AI, you’ll know that it has a certain… tone to it. Why, it’s almost robotic. Of course it is. There’s often a set structure and format, and it can read very much like a blog post that someone’s churned out to populate a website for SEO purposes.
Again – of course – because that’s what a lot of human-written blog posts are like, so that’s what exists on the internet, so that’s what AI is emulating. It’s not writing from scratch and thinking up the answers itself.
‘Garbage in, garbage out’ is a retro computing phrase that’s found new meaning with AI – what you get out depends on what you put in. In the case of AI copy, it’s all about the prompts.
You can ask AI anything, but vague and unspecific prompts probably won’t give you the information you need. It takes practice and good communication abilities to get high-quality outputs.
In fact, ‘prompt engineering’ is becoming its own specialist skill. So having the knowledge and experience of how to get great results is key. And if your business is keen on using AI across the company, upskilling colleagues would be a valuable internal communications programme.
What are the benefits of AI?
AI will become another tool for writers, like search engines
In the 1990s even a local newspaper would have its own well-stocked library with dedicated librarians on hand to help with research or fact-checking. There were microfilm machines for looking up previous coverage, a card-based system to find cuttings filed carefully by name or theme and stored in little brown envelopes, a vast library of photographs reaching back many decades, and shelves and shelves of reference books, journals and directories. If journalists were working on a feature that needed more digging, there was the city’s public library across the road, with its local history department – the traditional version of an internet research rabbit hole.
AI can be an excellent timesaver. It can quickly pull together lots of nuggets of information, facts and figures, examples and illustrations for an article. It can provide a rough-and-ready structure for a blog post. It can offer some great ideas – or at least the starting point for our own thinking. Used well, it’s like having an assistant to do some research for us. We’ll certainly need to check the facts and sources. And we’ll have to rewrite the copy so that it’s not so generic. But overall, that seems like a nice time-saver.
Notes of caution – what’s the downside?
While AI can be used as a source of inspiration, it’s not always accurate so shouldn’t be used as a source of information. And as deep-fake images and video, voice cloning and fake news become more common in general, we can only expect more of this to be pulled through by AI.
And bear in mind that whatever the AI lovingly crafts for you will remain there ready for anyone else to use – or for AI to feast upon again and again for further articles.
Students are routinely warned not to use AI to write essays. Not only is it naughty, but universities use plagiarism software – and if AI has written the piece, then it’s pulled from whatever is already online, so that software will be setting off klaxons at first glance.
It doesn’t talk with humans. It doesn’t keep up with what we’re saying offline (at least, if it’s spying on us, it’s not picking up the nuances). We asked AI to come up with some ideas for a quirky little article about inspiration – and it repeatedly gave us the same few themes, written in different ways. The Mozart effect. The Fibonacci sequence. The way trees communicate. Each one had a title formed in the same SEO-friendly way – ‘The Secret Language Of…’, ‘The Surprising Truth About…’, ‘The Incredible Power Of…’
All fine, but when we’re hitting that ‘regenerate’ button to ask for a new article, it doesn’t yet cop on to the fact that we’re saying ‘No, we’ve had this before’ or ‘This is a bit hackneyed now, babe’.
And the more the internet fills up with AI-generated articles, the more this will happen. Which is encouraging, for copywriters with mortgages to pay. Sorry, for those of us who relish the individuality and human touch of good writing.
AI can’t always make distinctions the way we can
So next, we asked an AI robot to craft a short article about H&H. Out it rolled, in seconds. A quick glance showed it was a bit formulaic, a bit staid, but gosh – lots of glowing descriptions of how committed, innovative and clever we are.
Except – the article tells us the company name stands for two unfamiliar surnames beginning with H – which is not correct (it stands for Helen and Hannah). Our agency began life in ‘a small garage’ where the founders ‘shared a dream of providing top-notch products and services to their local community’. Hm, no, that’s not true either.
The bulk of the article IS true – or at least sounds like it. Probably. It’s mainly paragraphs built around phrases like these:
– ‘Some companies stand out for their commitment to excellence, innovation, and a dedication to serving their customers and communities. One such company is H&H, a name that has become synonymous with quality and reliability.’
Okay – not the words we’d choose, but it makes sense as a bit of chest-beating flannel.
– ‘From the very beginning, H&H set high standards for quality. Whether it’s in the manufacturing of products or delivering services, the company has consistently strived to exceed customer expectations.’
Nice – our hearts are warmed. We don’t manufacture anything, but the rest sounds impressive, no? If we were manufacturers, we’d still be going ‘yup’.
– ‘H&H has always been at the forefront of innovation. The company invests heavily in research and development to stay ahead of the curve and adapt to changing market trends.’
Yes, that’s us! Kind of. Give or tweak a few words.
– ‘In recent years, H&H has made significant strides in embracing environmental responsibility.’
You know what? We have! Not sure about the ‘eco-conscious products’ the article then says we make, but we can cut that.
– ‘Perhaps the most defining feature of H&H is its unwavering focus on the customer.’
Totally. Well – clients, or partners – not customers. But yes.
And in conclusion:
– ‘H&H is a testament to what can be achieved through commitment, innovation, and a strong sense of purpose.’
They’re right, you know.
Except we could say that about any business whose praises we wish to sing. Any organisation, individual, product, song, boat, pillow, stress-ball-keyring.
Copywriting involves more than just creating words on a page; it requires a deep understanding of the audience, the brand, and the message that needs to be conveyed.
What's next and what should internal communicators and copywriters do?
The turning point will be when artificial intelligence develops artificial humanity.
While AI can generate content and mimic conversations, it’s still missing the human touch. It’s not clever enough to understand empathy and lacks the emotional intelligence and creativity needed for great copywriting.
It relies on humans to write the main content in the first place and give feedback on what is a good and bad answer. And it can’t replace the talent, understanding, and human interactions of skilled copywriters.
But AI can be a practical tool to assist you in making your work easier, faster, and better.
Right now, AI is only as good as the person using it. So, it’s the perfect time for copywriters and internal communications teams to prepare – brush up your skillset, understand the limitations and open up to the opportunities it brings.
Insights and Resources
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