I can still remember my primary school calculator. Cheap plastic buttons, no scientific functions, and barely enough digits to do anything impressive (unless you count typing “5318008” and flipping it upside down).
When I moved to grammar school, a proper calculator with buttons like sine, cosine and tan (it’s still triggering to write these words) had taken its place. The school’s stance towards using calculators had also become more sophisticated: Suddenly, using a calculator wasn’t cheating. It was an important skill.
As with most of my personal anecdotes, this is a slightly clunky metaphor, in this instance because that transition in capability and attitude feels exactly like what’s happening with AI in communications teams today.
I’ll spend the rest of this article explaining myself and justifying my use of the calculator reference…
Just a year ago, there was a sense that AI at work was something to keep quiet about. It was the dirty secret of an overworked team member trying to get ahead on a press release or strategy doc.
Now, the attitude towards AI has flipped. There’s an expectation that you’re using it. That you’re being demonstrably “AI-enabled.” That your team is faster, leaner, and more efficient because of it.
And that you’re ready to tell that story to the board, to investors, to customers, to the wider market, and to the world.
But here’s the thing: getting that story right is harder than it looks for in-house communications teams.
Too bullish, and you end up like Duolingo, backpedalling after a now-infamous memo on job cuts that went viral and triggered a PR headache. Too vague, and your investors are left wondering if you’ve missed the bus, and your customers are wondering if they’re buying vapourware.
We’re now in a weird liminal phase. AI isn’t replacing jobs at scale (yet), but it is changing workflows. And that creates tension:
- Internally, communications teams are under pressure to use AI to do more with less.
- Externally, they’re under pressure to signal that AI is unlocking growth for the wider business, not just shrinking headcount.
All while working out what they actually can say that won’t come back to bite them six months down the line.
At Hard Numbers, I’m seeing this tension manifest through the outreach we’re sending to prospective clients. The stuff that’s landing isn’t the usual creds deck or the not-so-subtle references to recent award wins. It’s offering clarity on two things:
1. How AI is changing the way comms teams work. Including how earned media is being picked up (or ignored) by generative models (and how to optimise for that).
2. How to communicate about AI in a way that actually lands safely, without sounding like you’ve fired your entire workforce and replaced them with ClaudeGPTpilot.
As public affairs supremo Iain Anderson says,
“Where there’s confusion, there’s consultancy.”
Right now, there’s confusion everywhere, and a real appetite for guidance where AI is concerned.
That’s how many in-house comms professionals say AI is helping them manage their workload better (according to recent PR Moment research).
But how many of those are working fewer hours? My guess is that it’s probably pretty close to 0.
Where are the time gains going? Into the pressure cooker of doing more with less, while also being the ones expected to shout the AI success story from the rooftops.
If you’re struggling to navigate the internal or external challenges of talking about the benefits of AI, feel free to get in touch and arrange a chat. We’ve done the work here, and we can definitely help.
