The Structural Clock: Elif Güvençer on What Communications Must Become in the Age of AI
What is the communications function now for, and will communicators rebuild it before the answer is decided for them?
Latest
Why is AI losing the communications and PR war?
AI's leading voices are losing the communications war because they are fighting a publicity war instead. They are spending on the message and neglecting the fundamentals.
The 20 roadblocks between comms and useful AI – and what to do about them
Ask a room of communications professionals what stops them getting value from AI and you tend to hear the same one or two answers: it makes things up, or the lawyers will not allow it. Both are real. Neither is the whole picture.
One Year of Applied / Comms With AI: What We Learned, What Changed, Where We Are Now
A little over a year ago, I began the Applied / Comms With AI newsletter began with a simple promise: to experiment, fail, learn, and share everything along the way. Twelve months, two dozen-plus experiments, tool tests and practitioner interviews later – as well as a couple of recent awards wins
Comms With AI: How I Built an Award-Winning AI Communications Tool in 3 Months (and What I Got Wrong)
Three months ago I documented building Comms With AI with Claude Code. On 18 June it won Gold at the inaugural AI Comms Awards, and I was named AI Communications Leader of the Year.
The Pilot Trap: Comms With AI in the Transform Phase
Most AI initiatives in communications do not fail because the tools fail. They fade because nobody owned the change. This final article in the series is about the difference between a clever pilot and a capability that lasts.
The Lag Problem: Comms With AI in the Monitor Phase
Most monitoring tells comms teams what happened after the moment to act has passed. The Monitor phase asks a sharper question: how quickly can your team detect, interpret and respond to what is happening now?
The Honesty Gap: Ben Verinder on AI, PR and Trust
Ben Verinder has researched AI in public relations for eight years. In this Applied Comms AI Leader Interview, he explains why the policy gap everyone talks about sits on top of a deeper one: an honesty gap between teams, agencies and the people they serve.
The Cost of a Miss: Comms With AI in the Govern Phase
Every efficiency gain in the Create phase lands as a workload increase in Govern. More content, produced faster, still has to be checked, approved, and stood behind. This article is about the phase where AI created the problem before it offers any of the solution.
The Volume Problem: Comms With AI in the Create Phase
Most AI adoption in communications starts with content creation. The real test is not whether agents can produce more, faster. It is whether agent-assisted work still meets the standard senior communicators would trust in public.
The Work Before the Work: Comms With AI in the Strategise Phase
Most AI conversations in communications start with the draft. That framing misses where quality is actually set – in the research, positioning, stakeholder mapping, and message architecture that happens before a single sentence gets written.
AI Agent-Driven Communications: A Practical Framework for Transforming How Comms Teams Actually Work
Most teams use AI tactically. A tool here, a prompt there. The real shift is at the workflow level – and it needs a framework. This article introduces the Comms With AI Operating System: five phases that map how AI-powered communications work actually operates.
Leader Interviews
The SEO-PR Strategist Who Saw AI Search Coming – And Built a Business to Help Teams Catch Up
Rik Turner spent 15 years helping brands win at search. Then Google AI Overviews changed the rules. In this Applied Comms AI interview, he explains why PR teams are now central to how brands are represented in AI-generated search results — and shares a practical framework for responding.
Experiments & Applied Learning
I Needed a 'Comms With AI' Resource That Didn't Exist. So I Built One Using Claude Code
I needed a Comms with AI template library that didn't exist, so I built one. Here's the workflow – and where each AI tool hit its limits.
Leader Interviews
The living fact layer and the death of the PDF: NOAN CEO Neal Mann on why most AI-powered communications is built on sand
NOAN CEO Neal Mann explains the idea of a living fact layer, why hallucinations are structural rather than accidental, and what communications leaders need to rethink before AI can deliver real value.
Experiments & Applied Learning
How to Build an AI Target Reader – Let An ICP Agent Find the Problems Before Your Audience Does
Build an ICP “target reader” as an AI agent to stress-test headlines, CTAs and template copy in hours – and fix clarity, proof and governance gaps fast.
Experiments & Applied Learning
How I Built a Live AI Webinar Using the Same Workflow I Was Teaching
Seven iterations, one recursive workflow. The behind-the-scenes account of preparing and delivering a live AI demonstration for The Data Lab – and what the process actually taught me.
Experiments & Applied Learning
From Content Creator to System Builder: Claude Cowork Just Changed What Comms Professionals Can Actually Do With AI
This Isn't About AI Writing Better. It's About AI Removing What Stopped You Writing At All.
Experiments & Applied Learning
A Complete New Business Pitch & Comms Suite in Under 1 Hour: Testing Claude Skills & Projects
How I built a brand skill from scratch and produced a full campaign toolkit – speaking proposal, presentation, content calendar, outreach emails – in a single session.
Experiments & Applied Learning
I Built a Voice-Enabled AI Strategy Architect That Generates Bespoke Campaign Dashboards – Here's What Made It Possible
How agentic AI turned Google’s Gemini 3 Pro hackathon experiment into a functional and innovative strategy tool for under-resourced charities.
Area Deep Dives
2026 Communications Trends: Sharper Voices Thrive as Tools Get Smarter
It’s the year when communicators should loudly and proudly articulate that their value isn’t in producing content – it’s in making sense of the world.
Leader Interviews
The AI Architect Building the Future of Communications at FleishmanHillard
AI expertise isn't about being technically gifted – it's about understanding systems and workflows.
Newsletter
AI in Crisis Comms: Help or Hindrance?
"The key is preparation. Use AI now to understand its capabilities and limitations. Build your prompts library when you're calm. Test on low-stakes issues. Because when a real crisis hits, you don't want to be experimenting – you want proven tools and workflows ready to deploy." - Amanda Coleman
Newsletter
From Watson to Lovable: How Flipside's MD is Navigating the AI Revolution
Flipside's Barney Evison and his digital agency team have spent the past few years turning AI wonder into practical applications – and learning some hard truths along the way.