There’s an air of unknown right now among communicators. Healthcare workers, lawyers, authors and just about every professional worker I know is hovering over the same discussion.
We find ourselves asking colleagues, how they think AI will affect our positions in the future. It reminds me of the cohort conversation I had in graduate school, in 2006, about how the role of social media *might* come into play for the communications industry (PR, advertising & journalism).
Undeniably, social media has found it’s way into marketing and communications, radically so. It’s hard to picture a brand without a social media presence. Will the same go for AI? Will we laugh at the thought in 15 years? Will we all look backwards and think, we saw it coming, but we didn’t know which way it would go. How will we adapt?
Truthfully, I don’t know the fullness of how AI will affect our careers and our companies, but I do know we need to keep up. We need to embrace change and learn it from the beginning. When it came to social media, the clients I worked for demanded it. I had to learn it. I did it willfully and gladly. It was fun and interesting in the beginning and in many ways it still is. It’s also a bit more daunting now, but it’s no less important for brands. Keeping up with all of the ever-changing ways social media can maximize a client’s potential takes resources and team members and lots of moving parts. It’s a role within an organization that didn’t exist two decades ago. What roles will AI bring into the mix?
I have a feeling we can expect a lot of changes from AI, ChatGBT, etc., but the most important word in that phrase is “change”. It’ll likely be interesting and fun in the beginning, a pest at times, but a function we need to utilize well. So, let’s jump in. All of us, the robots are here to stay, let’s learn from each other and complement the technology in the best ways we can. We’re still human and that is something AI can not claim. This morning I’m going to dive into a new article on the topic, something I find myself doing 7 days a week right now. I know I’ll learn something new and I hope you’re doing the same.
Keeping up is a skill we all need to practice, no matter where you’re at in your career. You don’t have to be a master at everything, but knowing the tools available (and having the guts to use them) will make you more successful at everything you—& your team—approach.