How you’re underutilising AI in communications

Most communications work doesn’t fail because teams lack ideas.

But those ideas can and do, often result in:

• A press release that feels vague.

• A thought leadership piece that sounds fine but goes nowhere.

• A campaign that launches without a clear point of view.

The problem isn’t effort. It’s friction. And increasingly, that friction isn’t necessary.

AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are now part of the communications landscape. Yet most organisations are still underusing them, either avoiding them entirely or treating them as shortcuts that generate generic copy.

Both approaches miss the point.

Used well, AI doesn’t replace judgment, experience, or voice. It removes resistance from the thinking and shaping stages of communication, allowing teams to focus on clarity, intent, and impact.

The real gap isn’t writing. It’s thinking time.

In media, PR, and brand communications, the hardest part of the job rarely sits in the final paragraph. It sits earlier.

It’s the moment when you’re staring at notes, transcripts, data, or half-formed ideas, knowing there’s a story in there but struggling to define the angle. It’s the pressure to respond quickly while still sounding considered. It’s the cognitive load of juggling messaging, audience, tone, and risk all at once.

This is where AI tools are most valuable, not as writers, but as thinking partners.

Research into the use of generative AI in professional and academic writing consistently shows that people work faster and produce more coherent output when AI is used as an assistant rather than an author. The improvement doesn’t come from automation. It comes from reducing the mental overhead of organising, structuring, and refining ideas.

In communications terms, that means less time stuck in draft mode and more time spent on judgment calls that actually matter.

Why communications teams still hesitate

Many professionals worry that using AI will flatten their voice or dilute their expertise. Others assume it’s only useful for surface-level content like blog posts or captions. Both concerns are understandable, and both are based on using the tools incorrectly.

AI produces generic output when it’s asked to replace thinking. It becomes powerful when it’s asked to support it.

At JAM Group Media, we see the most effective use of AI when it’s treated like a quiet editorial assistant. One that can brainstorm angles without ego, summarise dense material without fatigue, and help impose structure on complex narratives. The final decisions, tone, and perspective still sit firmly with the human in the room.

The communications value isn’t in what the tool writes. It’s in what it helps you decide.

Creating a narrative

Modern communications teams are overwhelmed with information. Reports, interviews, transcripts, data sets, stakeholder feedback, and industry commentary all compete for attention. The challenge isn’t access to information; it’s deciding what matters to this audience, right now.

AI tools excel at compressing and clarifying complexity. They can surface common themes across multiple sources, highlight points of agreement and tension, and help articulate why a story matters without stripping away nuance. Used carefully, this speeds up the journey from research to narrative without replacing editorial judgment.

This is particularly valuable in PR and thought leadership, where credibility depends on precision. AI should never be treated as a source of truth, but it can be an efficient way to stress-test an argument, check clarity, or identify gaps before something goes public.

The result is not less rigorous communications, but more focused ones.

Structure before sentences

Strong communications rarely begin with writing. They begin with structure.

Whether it’s a media comment, a keynote speech, or a LinkedIn article, the most effective pieces have a clear through-line. They know what they’re trying to change in the reader’s mind. AI tools can help teams get to that structure faster by turning unstructured notes into coherent outlines, testing different narrative orders, or identifying where a message loses momentum.

This matters because structure creates confidence. It allows communications leaders to spend less time wrestling with shape and more time refining meaning, tone, and risk.

In an environment where speed is often mistaken for clarity, this discipline is increasingly valuable.

Protecting voice, not erasing it

One of the biggest risks in using AI for communications is losing specificity. If a piece could have been written by anyone, it probably shouldn’t be published.

This is why voice remains non-negotiable. AI can help generate drafts, but it cannot replicate lived experience, organisational context, or strategic intent. Those come from people.

The most effective teams use AI output as raw material. They cut aggressively. They rewrite in plain language. They add examples that only they could know. They read key lines out loud and adjust until it sounds like something they’d actually say to a journalist, a client, or a stakeholder.

The tool accelerates the process, but the human still owns the message.

A more mature role for AI in communications

The conversation around AI in media and marketing is moving past novelty. The question is no longer whether teams should use these tools, but how deliberately they do so.

AI won’t replace communications expertise. But it will widen the gap between teams who use it to think better and those who use it to publish faster without clarity.

Used responsibly, AI frees up time for the work that matters most: defining position, shaping narrative, managing reputation, and building trust.

That’s where communications value is and where it will continue to matter, regardless of the tools involved.

At JAM Group Media, we see AI as part of the modern communications toolkit. Not a shortcut, not a threat, but a support system that helps good thinking travel further, faster, and with more precision.

The tools will evolve. Platforms will change. But the core job remains the same: say something worth hearing, clearly, and with intent.

AI doesn’t change that. It just makes it easier to get there.