Research

Caleb Ward, a media industry professional, gained visibility in Spring 2023 for his production of two mock trailers — one of Star Wars, one of Lord of the Rings — which mimicked the recognizable style of Wes Anderson (“The Grand Budapest Hotel”, “Asteroid City”) using the generative visual AI program, Midjourney.

As a Polygram critic noted of Anderson, “Most cinephiles immediately...

November 30, 2022, will be remembered as the date of “first contact” for many of us in the field of communication. That was the day ChatGPT launched and as many of us played with the service, I suspect we had similar reactions. What have we encountered here? A species of sorts that can communicate and produce words with alarming speed and alacrity. Isn’t that our profession we asked each other...

AI critics argue that computers can never be as creative as human beings. Even at its smartest, AI is a predictive instrument that rearranges the information it receives. Surely, if AI can come up with an idea for a viral new product or an engaging marketing campaign then a human would be able to come up with it as well.

However, Karl Ulrich and Christian...

Much like the pairing of cybersecurity and technology, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into marketing and communications has been revolutionary. As a powerful and evolving tool, AI holds unprecedented potential to advance our profession — from enhancing the ability to connect with target audiences and uncover data insights, to fast-tracking the creation of persuasive messaging...

We stand at the nexus of an information glut and an action deficit — particularly when it comes to defining the crisis of our time: climate change. Despite an excessive amount of data, a disconnect persists. According to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, 72% of Americans claim climate change stokes their anxieties, yet only 33% actually bring it up in conversations, even with...

At the beginning of this year, we coined the term “AI-nxiety” in our annual trend report, The 2023 Predictionary , to reflect “the unease about the overarching ramifications of AI on human creativity and ingenuity.” By the time you read this, AI will have already become far more tangible, scary and exciting. The growth rate of AI’s adoption and capability is completely unprecedented...

Unless you’ve been on an extended digital detox, you know that communications are no exception to the integration of generative artificial intelligence. I wondered how the machines and humans thought about these changes. When I asked ChatGPT how AI would affect the professional communications function, it revealed a plethora (ChatGPT’s word, I would have said “a ton”) of possibilities. When I...

When I started my communications career my first manager told me that our work was doubly hard. Not only did I need to master the discipline of communications, but I also needed to master the work of the broader organizations if I wanted to be an effective counselor, and really drive impact. Understanding comms while deeply understanding the business is a principle I’ve tried to live with ever...