AI Moved Fast in 2025. Here's What PR and Communications Teams Should Do Next
Artificial intelligence was the word on the street in 2025. Advisors leaned on note-taking apps, marketing content generators, and even stock-picking bots - and they're not turning back. The same shift is hitting PR and communications: faster client comms, smarter prep, and tighter workflows are now table stakes.
The question isn't "if," it's "how." How do you fold AI into your daily work without risking compliance, brand trust, or quality? And how do you do it in a way that actually wins client moments, not just saves minutes?
New AI Heights
Chatbots and company-specific language models are set to lead the next wave, said Patrick Hunt, CEO of Smartria, who warned that teams without approved tools will "BYOAI" - bring their own AI. That's a governance headache waiting to happen. He added that firms need to vet tools for data security, bias, and other risks before rollout.
The policy picture is still messy. The SEC has signaled interest in rules for predictive analytics and conflicts of interest, but broad, clear guidance is still in progress. For PR leaders supporting financial clients, that matters - it shapes what you can safely deploy and how you document it.
- In 2025, 85% of advisors said generative AI helped their practice (up from 64% in 2024).
- Only 8% called AI a threat in 2025 (down from 21% in 2024).
SEC proposal: Predictive data analytics and conflicts
NIST AI Risk Management Framework
A Personal Touch
In 2025, many advisors spent time learning chatbots. Next, they'll use approved, targeted tools that deepen client relationships, summarize meetings, and surface next steps. Dan Zitting, CEO of Nitrogen, put it simply: the goal is more moments where a client's eyes light up because what you said landed - assisted by AI, not replaced by it.
For PR teams, that translates to sharper briefings, smarter follow-ups, and messaging that hits. AI can recall prior calls, pull context on stakeholders, and suggest next best actions so you show up prepared and make the conversation count.
What PR and Communications Teams Can Do Now
- Set guardrails before scale. Approve a short list of tools for drafting, note capture, meeting summaries, media research, and scheduling. Document data handling, redlines, and human review steps.
- Build a brand-safe LLM. Feed your model with messaging guides, product facts, past releases, Q&As, and crisis lines. Lock it to approved tone and claims to prevent drift.
- Upgrade client moments. Use AI to prep stakeholder maps, tailor talking points by segment, and propose "next best" outreach. Show up with context and a plan, not just a deck.
- Tighten compliance. Keep human-in-the-loop review for claims, disclosures, and regulated topics. Log prompts, outputs, and approvals for audit trails - especially for financial clients.
- Measure what matters. Track time saved on briefs, meeting prep, and reporting. Attribute wins to faster response times, higher placement quality, or improved client satisfaction.
- Kill the busywork. Automate first drafts of press notes, recaps, media lists, and social variants. Spend your energy on angles, relationships, and narrative.
- Stress-test for bias and security. Run periodic checks on outputs. Restrict sensitive inputs. Use enterprise accounts with clear data retention policies.
- Plan crisis workflows. Pre-build AI-assisted war rooms: scenario libraries, holding statements, approval trees, and alerting. Practice drills so the team trusts the system.
High-Impact Use Cases for PR Teams
- Meeting intelligence: Auto-summarize calls, extract action items, and route tasks to owners.
- Message testing: Generate variants, run small-sample tests, and pick winners based on clarity and risk.
- Media research: Pull reporter histories, angles, and recent coverage into one brief.
- Content repurposing: Turn a release into talking points, social cuts, and a client-ready recap in minutes.
- Executive prep: Build quick dossiers with context, anticipated questions, and red-flag topics.
Make It Real This Quarter
Pick two workflows to modernize: meeting notes and press materials are easy wins. Ship a simple policy, run a 30-day pilot, and review results with your legal and account leads. Then expand to media research and reporting.
If your team needs a fast, practical ramp on tools and prompts, explore focused training that maps AI to PR workflows. See AI courses by job for options you can roll out across the team without wasting cycles.
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