How PR and comms teams can keep up with AI transformation
Your AI policy is just the beginning. To truly transform, corporate comms teams need training, smarter workflows and a mindset shift across roles.
Summer is usually a time to relax, but if you're leading a team into our AI future, it's probably anything but. AI's been advancing at warp speed. A year ago we didn't have thinking models, ChatGPT couldn't search the web, and agents were but a whisper. Now all those things aren't just here—they're actively changing the way we work.
All of which is to say, when it comes to AI, it’s hard not to perpetually feel behind the curve. Sure, there’s no shortage of hype, but even correcting for that there's still a good chance you're underutilizing what's available to you and your team. And the pressure is real: If your competitors are more effective at moving AI from experimentation to actual workplace transformation, that's going to give them an edge.
All that sets the stage for this week's newsletter. As summer really gets going and low-key planning for the fall begins, I'd like to take a moment to talk about some of what I've been working on these past few months alongside my partners at The Upgrade.
As you probably know, in addition to producing this newsletter and a podcast, I also offer courses that teach how to use AI tools for journalists and PR professionals. Every month I teach a 1-hour introductory class, and for individuals who really want to change the way they work and develop an entirely new skill set, I now offer two separate six-week AI training courses—one for PR and communications professionals, and one for journalists, both in partnership with Peter Bittner and Kris Krüg, the chief AI magicians at The Upgrade.
Building custom AI transformation packages
But that’s not actually the news. While the training courses are a great way for individuals to learn how to apply AI in their work, organizations need something more. PR and communications leaders often approach me to build custom training packages for their teams. These tend to involve quite a bit of discovery and tailoring; after all, it's smart to learn AI, but it's even smarter to learn your company's AI.
I've always wanted to do more in this area. A larger framework that encompasses more PR workflows. Better guidance on systemic changes and policy. And the bandwidth for more coaching throughout the process. However, the demands of the other parts of my business have kept me from developing it.
Until now, that is. Today I'm excited to announce that The Media Copilot and The Upgrade have created a formal program for AI Transformation for PR Agencies & Corporate Comms Teams.
Working alongside former agency leader Melissa Flynn, our two organizations have built a program that doesn't stop at teaching essential AI skills—we can tailor our training program to your platforms and processes, while also consulting on frameworks that go beyond tool use to prepare teams for AI transformation, including guidance on ethics, data privacy, and long-term organizational health.
The need to go beyond policy
Creating those frameworks is clearly a need. I often point to a stat from Muck Rack's State of AI in PR report from earlier this year: while 75% of PR pros were using AI, only about 40% of PR agencies had an AI policy. The stat is a few months old, so the disparity probably isn't as bad anymore, but even if it's close to parity, there’s a more urgent point: an AI policy is still only the beginning of the journey, not the end.
If you have an AI policy, but you’re not actually measuring how that policy is being implemented or have some kind of plan for training and measuring the AI transformation of your workplace, it’s not going to have much effect. To really "live" the policy, you need to think about how you’re transforming your organization along multiple dimensions: strategy, operations, data, and more. This is what turns guidelines into a living thing that evolves with your organization as your people improve their skills.
Most PR teams are using AI functions within the software platforms they already depend on. Others try to get everything under a single enterprise platform with strict guardrails.
The problem with these approaches is that they abstract a lot of AI’s potential away, often reducing its use to simple button-pushing. It also limits you to the vision of whatever the third-party provider thinks is AI.
What's really required is a shift in mindset. Your workers need to realize that for all their work functions (not just the ones within an enterprise platform), they now have access to intelligence. The more people who adopt a real AI-first mindset in everything they do—breaking down their daily tasks and redesigning them with AI support—the more they'll accelerate your organization toward real transformation.
The thing that separates AI from previous tech transformations is everyone in the organization can contribute to this. AI’s output changes with language. Designing prompts—not just executing them—is key. Fewer people understand this than you’d think, and many of those who don’t are still just typing the first thing they think of into ChatGPT and hoping for the best. Unlocking the best results from AI isn’t only about prompting; it’s also about context. Thinking through what context to give the AI, when, and in what applications is the path to scoring real productivity gains. And it’s no easy feat to achieve that while also safeguarding data privacy.
Your competitors are not experimenting. They’re deploying. They’re going beyond pilots and transforming workflows. They’ve figured out what’s acceptable use, the right guardrails to put on data, and how to keep innovating. If you’re stuck at ChatGPT, wondering about enterprise tools and next steps, you might not even know what decisions to make.
That’s where we come in. Our goal is simple: help you build a team that’s not just dabbling with AI, but working in the right lanes, with the right guardrails, and the right mindset to keep leveling up. The future is AI-first—let’s make sure your people are ready to swim in it, not just dip their toes.