When the AI only talks to itself

When the AI only talks to itself

It is true, Artificial Intelligence, namely the so-called LLMs (Large Language Models) will democratize communication work. Where recently a lot of money or personnel were required to generate different derivatives for numerous channels from one text, for example, today AI spits out the content in the right formats and tonalities at the push of a button in seconds for free. This means that even smaller communications functions can afford to do what used to be possible only for the communications heavyweights from the DAX or potent associations.

Ultimately, the technology enables hyper-personalization of communication. We are no longer talking about target groups, but mass individual dialogs that are contextualized based on a data track and played out automatically in real time. If you think this is fantasy, you only have to look around to see what applications are currently being developed in marketing. A product information system (PIM) becomes product experience management (PXM), which automates the entire value chain from collecting product data, enriching it with customer-relevant contexts, syndicating it to countless platforms, and processing feedback in real time such as conversation rates but also user comments in an AI-supported way to improve the user experience. The frustrating experience of continuing to see advertising for a product after a purchase should soon be a thing of the past.

But what initially sounds like a brave new world also harbors danger. For communication incomparably more than in marketing. What will happen when, one day soon, everyone is technically capable of automated, real-time communication, multiplying the sheer volume of potential touchpoints? Do we, as the addressees of this bot-controlled communication, lose interest in it because we know exactly that there is no human being involved here – even if the AI pretends to be “close” with its knowledge of interests and preferences? If this is thought through to its logical conclusion, bots will end up communicating with each other, for example when the AI in the form of a co-pilot (as recently announced by Microsoft) cleans up the Outlook mailbox. Similar solutions are likely to become established for all channels.

A look back helps. As internal communications became increasingly digital around the turn of the millennium and intranets took hold, a phenomenon became measurable. The more digital communication became, the greater the need for personal communication, for personal touchpoints, especially with management. Something similar could be observed again. Personal contact could prove to be an outlet to escape the “digital overkill,” creating real closeness and thus trust as the icing on the cake. So financiers shouldn’t speculate on shutting down communications departments because of AI. People are needed because AI cannot replace them.

But here, too, caution is called for. In view of the fact that communication is only just making progress in its digitization, and is doing so with difficulty, it would be wrong to call off digitization altogether as a consequence of the considerations that have been made. The winners will be those who master the keyboard with virtuosity and a healthy balance of communication measures – because the piano is electric. 😉 The digitalization of communication is a challenge.