AI Impact Essentials · Week 1 · 35 to 45 min read

AI in Comms

What works, what doesn't, what sticks

This week is about getting clear on the AI you already use, the AI you should use, and the AI you should leave alone. By Friday you will have a short, clear shortlist of the AI tools that fit your work. It is the first piece of your AI Playbook.

This course speaks in a working week: when it says "by Friday", it means by the end of your week on this, at whatever pace is yours.

If you are not currently using AI in your work, this week is still for you. You will work through the same exercises and come out with the same artefact. The shortlist of someone who is starting from zero is just as valuable as the shortlist of someone already using six tools. Often more so.
From the research

A note on what makes this course different. The framework underneath it came from doctoral research into how AI is being used in high-stakes communication: a structured review of the published evidence, co-design workshops with practitioners and the audiences they serve, and a synthesis of behavioural, communication, and AI governance scholarship. Most AI-for-comms courses teach tools and prompts. Others teach principles pitched well above your everyday work. This course sits in the operational middle: moves a working communicator can apply on a Wednesday afternoon, with the governance reasoning underneath. What you build here is meant to be defensible, not just usable.

By the end of this week

  • You will recognise the AI already in your everyday work, including AI you may not have noticed.
  • You will know the five categories of AI tools used in comms, what each does, and how to actually use them.
  • You will recognise the three failure modes that show up across all AI tools, and what to do about them.
  • You will have a shortlist of three to five AI tools that match your work and your risk profile, with a one-line reason for each.
  • You will know what you are not using AI for, and why.

What is in this lesson

1
The AI already in your workAn honest look at what you are using before you decide what you should be using.
2
The five tool categoriesWhat each category does, the main tools, how to choose, and how to actually use them. With example prompts.
3
The three failure modesHallucinations, confidentiality slips, and the composite voice. What goes wrong, why, and what to do.
4
Three teams, three shortlistsHow three different teams shaped different shortlists from the same starting point.
5
Build your shortlistFive short practices that produce your AI Tools Shortlist.
6
Check and reflectA five-question knowledge check, a quick reflection, and a look ahead to Week 2.
In plain terms

The words this week leans on, one plain sentence each. Skip any you already know.

Artefact
The one concrete thing you produce this week and keep. Here, it is your AI Tools Shortlist.
Risk profile
A few plain sentences describing what makes your work sensitive: who sees it, what data it touches, what rules apply.
Shortlist
Your short, chosen list of AI tools that fit your work, each with a one-line reason.
Failure mode
A predictable way a tool goes wrong. This week: made-up facts, confidentiality slips, and a flattened voice.
Composite voice
The generic, averaged tone AI falls into when it blends everyone, so it sounds like no one in particular.

See the full glossary