Because automation without intention is a risk, not a strategy.
AI tools can help communications teams move faster and smarter, but they also raise serious ethical questions. Who controls the message? Who gets credited? How do we ensure our words reflect values like equity and accountability?
These aren’t hypothetical dilemmas, they’re real, right now.
Ethical Questions We Should Be Asking:
- Are we disclosing where and when AI is used in content production?
- Have we audited our AI tools for bias? (*cough* Grok *cough*)
- Who reviews generated copy before it’s published?
- Do we have consent and transparency practices in place when using data to generate personalization?
Full disclosure: I do selectively use AI tools as part of my creative process to help generate ideas for topics, but everything here is shaped by real strategy, experience, and intent.
A Few Ideas on How to Create Guardrails:
1. Draft an Internal AI Use Policy: Define appropriate use cases, review processes, and approval pathways.
2. Identify Authorized Tools: Clarify which AI tools are approved for your team (free vs. paid). Free tools may lack data safeguards, while paid options offer better privacy, governance, and reliability. Each comes with trade-offs, so choose based on your organization’s security, ethical standards, and needs.
3. Educate Your Team: Not just how to use tools but how to use them ethically.
4. Lead with Humanity: AI should support your voice, not replace it.
Ethical communications is about more than truth, it’s about intention, transparency, and trust.
Let’s set the ethical standard before someone else sets it for you.
Try to map a policy grounded in purpose.
