I’m not an internal comms person. I am an entrepreneur, a marketing person, a public speaker, now an author and a “tech” guy.
I spend my days thinking, writing and doing keynotes about the future of work, building things that might help change the future, and using AI systems like Claude, ChatGPT-5, Gemini, and even Mistral.
Basically I am a bit weird and think differently to most people. Heck, that’s why companies pay me to do keynotes about the future of work and the Fifth Industrial Revolution.
I live in the future, I use the tools, I think differently… So when I look at internal communications, I don’t see what IC professionals see. I see a function that, in its current form, could be replicated — if not replaced — by a single well-built AI platform.
That’s not me being provocative for the sake of it. It’s me looking at the state of the technology, the scale of enterprise data, and the strategic ambitions of players like Microsoft — and saying: the capability is here already.
The 80% reality
Which is why I love listening and learning from true professional in the purest form in InternalComms. Some in my conversation, with Monique Zytnik, whose latest book looks deeply into AI’s role in internal comms. We agreed on one thing: the mechanics of IC are ripe for automation. She has a much more nuanced thought process and a framework on this - so do read her book….
Drafting, formatting, translating, segmenting, scheduling, reporting… an AI system could handle 80% of it tomorrow.
Would it be perfect? No. Would it have human finesse? Not yet. Would most employees notice? That’s the uncomfortable question.
Authenticity: the shifting target
In her book, Monique thinks very differently about authenticity, and questions whether this truly is the cornerstone of trust. Traditionally, it meant “a human sent this.” But my point (maybe our point is) will the next generation of employees care whether the person behind the message is flesh-and-blood or silicon-and-syntax?
Look at AI influencers. Millions of followers engage daily with personas that don’t exist. They’re brand-authentic, not human-authentic — and the audience doesn’t seem to mind.
Which raises a dangerous possibility: if a machine can deliver messages that are more personalised, timely, and relevant than a human team could manage, brand-authentic might trump human-authentic.
And when brand-authentic is backed by deep data — context on your projects, your team dynamics, your engagement levels, your preferred style — those messages can feel more empathetic, even if no human ever touched them.
I asked Monique what she thought and she said…
“Authenticity is overrated in the discussion around leadership communication. I advocate for human, relatable, trustworthy and consistent communication.
Research shows that AI is best placed to hyperpersonalise, tailor, align and enhance persuasiveness of communication messages, to create the optimal text, script or however you want the message to be delivered.
We as humans, however, still need to have oversight and be in control. We are ultimately responsible for messages that are communicated and how they are interpreted. Sending messages is only one part of the equation.
This is why as communicators we need to know what good looks like. You need to have a strategic mindset and be able to see the bigger picture of what you’re trying to achieve.
We need to be able to check if the machine has got it right, and we should always touch the content that is going out, even if it is with our ears and eyes, to make sure they are right.”
So I continue with such thinking. On how the machine might ALWAYS get it right. More right than a human ever could due to the power of DATA.
The data advantage
This isn't a theory. Imagine an AI system that knows:
- the exact policy update relevant to your current role,
- the impact on your current project,
- the timing that works best with your calendar, and
- the right tone based on your engagement patterns.
The message it sends you might read:
“Here’s the change that affects your project due next Thursday. Here’s what to do now, and here’s a short video from your team lead explaining why.”
Would you care that it was machine-written? Or would you just be grateful it was useful, relevant, and didn’t waste your time?
Where humans still matter
If the machine can do the doing, humans still matter in the deciding. That role shifts to:
- Governance — setting guardrails for what AI can and can’t say.
- Meaning-making — interpreting signal from noise.
- Ethics — deciding where human empathy is non-negotiable.
- Intervention — knowing when to override automation.
But here’s the risk: if IC doesn’t claim that higher ground fast, someone else will build the system without them — and they’ll find themselves explaining why they weren’t part of the design.
Again, I am lucky enough to be able to ask Monique Zytnik on her thoughts. And she replied….
“Communicators need to be clear on the value they bring. We also need to be great at communicating this with our stakeholders.
It used to be writing. But this isn’t what internal communication is.
Internal communication is deliberate communication with people in your organisation at scale for business success.
A part of this is messaging. A part of this is listening. A part is being strategic about the how, where, and when.
An increasingly growing part of this is stakeholder management. This is where our value lies. Being able to challenge others, persuade them. Get them - with all their differing views - aligned behind a topic or project.
This is most effectively done in person. By a person. This is why I think companies have trended towards stronger in-office mandates in the last year.
This is where our value lies in the future.
The various AI tools - and let’s move beyond just LLMs for writing and content production - can help us as communicators get there more effectively.
We need to remember that content is now cheap. We need to shift our focus towards immersive communication, which is more experience focused. More memorable.
I cover immersive communication in my book Internal Communication in the Age of Artificial Intelligence as the new focus we need to bring to our communication to be effective.
What fascinates me about the future is when will we get to the point where my AI will talk to yours. In one year? In five?
How we communicate with each other will fundamentally shift, just as it has done with text messages.
For example, we’re already seeing the need for websites to rethink their content and structure for LLM readability. Or rather, I should say, web designers need to rethink… (slip of the tongue).
Soon our own AI agent will become our key interface with knowledge and information. We’ll automatically have a filter for all the noisy communication being targeted towards us and at the same time it is harder to cut through.
At the moment this seems like a long way off as integration is still clunky, the internet is patchy, and basic tools like Microsoft Teams and Google Meet coming together cause havoc with your computer settings. But think how far we’ve come with AI in the last year!
Key skills that we as human beings need to value is critical thinking and the ability to connect with other humans.”
From “human-authentic” to “brand-authentic”
Monique Zytnik’s work points out that alignment is central to IC. And here’s the kicker: AI can enforce alignment and brand-authenticity at scale better than a distributed human function ever could.
Consistency of tone, compliance, and context can be baked into the model. Every message aligns with the organisation’s values and current priorities — instantly, globally, in every language.
That’s both the opportunity and the existential threat. If brand-authentic is “good enough” for most employees, the pressure to justify the cost of a fully human IC function will grow.
A few uncomfortable questions
As an outsider, here are the questions I’d be asking if I were in IC leadership:
- If AI can do the work, what’s your argument for keeping it human?
- Are you measuring authenticity by sender or by recipient experience?
- How will you compete with an AI that can deliver more personalised comms to every employee at once?
- Are you ready to become the designer of the machine, rather than the doer of the work?
- What’s the one thing in internal comms you would never automate — and are you already automating it quietly?
Why this matters now
I’ve seen industries wait too long to adapt, clinging to “how we’ve always done it” until the choice was taken away. Internal comms still has time — maybe five years — to decide what it wants to be in an AI-driven enterprise.
But that time is running out, and the tech is here. In fact, as Monique Zytnik and I discussed, the real challenge isn’t whether AI can do IC — it’s whether IC leaders can define the value that remains once it does.
If they don’t, that value will be defined for them — by tech companies, by CFOs, or by AI systems themselves.
But as I say, I am an outsider in this world, a world which I have been asked to:
To write for Strategic Communication
Even now am making training sessions for thecsce.com on AI and Internal Comms.
So I will let Monique Zytnik add her pure internal comms experience and wisdom…
“Three additional things we as communicators still need to still talk about are:
- How can we upskill our emerging professionals to become experts when AI is now doing their job and has removed the key learning component to help them know what good looks like.
- Our teams are and will continue to shrink unless we re-articulate what internal communication is and build further expertise boosted by AI.
- What will the future of work look like in our society? Are we working a four day week? How do we maintain human dignity with low employment? I ask these questions as the current global chaos is impacting our people in our organisations. They will want answers as to what will happen to them.”
A public invitation
I’m grateful to Monique Zytnik for sparking this conversation — both in her book and in our recent discussion - with huge apologies on the tech issues with our last podcast. We will do it again I promise...
I hope you, like myself, truly value her perspectives here, especially where we disagree. And I’d like to invite the wider IC community to weigh in: if AI can automate most of your current output and personalise it beyond what a human team could manage, what will be left that’s uniquely yours?
Because in the near future, the real measure of “authenticity” might not be who wrote it — it might be whether it changes anything at all. But perhaps that’s more effectiveness and efficiency - and perhaps, this is where AI will shine…
About the Authors Dan Sodergren and Monique Zytnik
Dan Sodergren. Keynote speaker, corporate trainer, TedxTalker, and author. Ex marketing agency owner and serial tech startup co-founder, Dan Sodergren is a digital marketing and technology expert who specialises in the future of work and AI.
He works on the BBC Breakfast, BBC new channels, BBC Watchdog, the One Show, RipOffBritain and on countless radio shows.
Dan is a tech futurist and optimist. Who trains companies in how the future of work, technology and AI will change the world for the better during this #FifthIndustrialRevolution.
His website and book on this subject is here....
Monique Zytnik is an award-winning, global strategic internal communication leader based in Berlin, Germany. She’s worked internationally, presented on best-practice communication at world conferences, and guest lectured at universities. Her campaigns have been recognized by Gartner, Mumbrella CommsCon, and the Quadriga Digital Communication Awards.
Monique regularly shares her knowledge through communication industry publications and podcasts, drawing on her in-house and consultancy work with organizations including ebay, DHL Group, SBS Radio Australia, and the LEGO Foundation.
She is the author of Internal Communication in the Age of Artificial Intelligence published by Business Expert Press, May 2024. She is currently the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) International Executive Board EMENA Region Director and Past Chair of the IABC EMENA Region Board.
The link to her book is here... https://www.moniquezytnik.com/books/internal-communication-in-the-age-of-artificial-intelligence
