Last week, I went to Chennai on work. I boarded the flight not knowing how it would feel to land at that airport, with all the memories of Dad in various corners waiting to greet me. An airport that 2025 made us very familiar with, given the number of trips we made in and out. Having a friendly colleague with me on this trip made all the difference. I shared anecdotes with him about my various trips, and I was grateful for his presence. I realised how much the people I work with and for matter.
Simon Sinek’s mantra “Do work that matters, for people who care” came alive in a very real way for me. The client for whom I had gone to do the work, and I share a great relationship. I also enjoyed working with the colleague I travelled with. The work assignment went off well; the trip down memory lane was better than I expected. The bonus was that I found new ways in which AI was being embraced in our field of work, and it got me thinking about what responsible AI usage looks like.
The client had shared a wonderfully crafted messaging document. At the end of the messaging guide, there was a footnote that read “Prepared with AI Assistance….” Two things struck me. Firstly, the disclosure as a best practice, and second, the use of AI to create a messaging document, which was earlier one of the value-added services of a communications professional. If this content is so easily put together by AI, what is the value we as communicators now bring to the table?
From a master narrative to country specific and topic specific messages, proof points at a glance, and a question-and-answer bank, it was a beautifully put together document. The ability to glance through it and point out any inaccuracies, anomalies, and sign off on the content requires a fluency with the subject matter. The disclaimer at the end does not mean that the content cannot be trusted, because once it has the human seal of approval, ownership arrives.
While the client had used AI in this way, we too, in preparation for this assignment, had put together a section of our workshop using AI and had a similar disclosure at the end of a particular section of our presentation that began with the same “Prepared with AI Assistance…” and then went on to cite other sources of information.
In both cases, the use of AI as a smart way to synthesise a lot of information into an easy to consume format, appropriate for the context of the workshop, needed a level of mastery from the creator. Confidence in the veracity of the information being generated and the nuances that need to be highlighted comes from this level of knowing.
Equally, what stood out to me is the need for deep subject matter knowledge and a relationship with the material that allowed for it to be used effectively. The knowledge about the space, the subject, the country, the competition, the stakeholders, the policy environment, geopolitics, and much more is held by the lived experience of the person using the material AI has helped generate. Without this inherent knowledge, and this relationship with the material, using it with confidence is impossible.
I am reminded of a post I read by a senior coach where she said, and I’m paraphrasing, “Learning and training are foundational; we must understand the discipline and the structure. Rigorous professional training is important as this helps us get to a stage where we have a strong relational foundation with our domain.” And then she ended with this line: “What must we first learn before we are genuinely able to let go?”
I believe the ability to use AI with maturity requires us to ask the same kind of questions of ourselves. “What must we first learn and know, and what is the quality of our relationship with the subject and its ecosystem before we lean into the arms of – prepared with AI assistance?” The human seal of ownership is what counts. Relationships are still built on trust.
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