Media Cheers, Socials Jeer: Australia's 2025 AI Reputation Gap and Union Surge
Medianet finds media upbeat on AI while social feeds skew negative, citing jobs and service risks. PR teams must close the gap with clear plans, consistency, and transparency.
The AI Tightrope: What PR and Communications Teams Need to Do Now
SYDNEY, Australia - 29 September 2025 - Medianet's new report, "The AI Tightrope: Balancing AI, Reputation and Workforce Impact," analyses more than 50,000 media and social posts from January to August 2025 to map how AI at work is framed in Australia - and where reputational risk spikes.
The headline: 71% of print and online media is upbeat about AI's benefits for productivity and growth. But the public conversation is harsher. Across Facebook, Reddit and X, 64% of posts leaned negative, linking AI to job insecurity, chatbot failures, and calls for tighter rules.
Key shifts PR leaders can't ignore
- Media optimism, public scepticism: National outlets like The Australian and the AFR frame AI as an economic driver. Social communities push back on jobs, service quality, and transparency.
- Corporate voices steer coverage: High-profile CEOs, including Matt Comyn (CBA) and Andrew Irvine (NAB), are central to positive storylines.
- Case studies with lessons: CBA tempered backlash to AI-related job cuts through transparent updates on both wins and setbacks. Telstra's inconsistent messaging opened a credibility gap, drawing union criticism and negative headlines.
- Unions gain clout fast: Media mentions of union commentary on AI jumped 265% between May and June 2025, with growing visibility in professional sectors.
Why this matters for reputation
AI is now as much a reputation issue as a technology decision. Leaders may earn positive headlines, but public cynicism can intensify online, especially around jobs and service. Closing this gap is now frontline work for corporate affairs.
The media will amplify missteps. When employees speak out and language turns emotive, narratives spread across platforms fast. Without clarity and consistency, a company's messaging unravels.
What the data says
- 71% of Australian print and online coverage presents AI as a net positive.
- 64% of social posts skew negative, focused on job cuts, bot-driven service failures, and opacity.
- Union media mentions on AI rose 265% in a single month (May to June 2025).
- Review period: January-August 2025 across more than 50,000 media and social items.
PR playbook: Communicate AI without the blowback
- Lead with the "why," then the "how." Tie AI to improved outcomes for customers and employees. Explain what changes, what doesn't, and how you'll measure success.
- Make workforce impacts explicit. If roles change, say so directly. Detail reskilling plans, timelines, and support - before the first headline lands.
- Stay consistent over time. Contradictions between investor briefings, internal memos, and media lines are easy to spot and quick to spread.
- Bring your leaders to the front. Brief executives to speak plainly about both benefits and limits. Overpromising is a trust killer.
- Address unions and employee voices early. Treat them as core stakeholders. Offer forums for input and publish follow-ups on actions taken.
- Prove transparency. Share test phases, pilot outcomes, error rates, and what you're doing to improve - especially for customer-facing AI.
- Use thought leadership with restraint. Publish expert POVs that include risks, safeguards, and real results - not just vision.
Message architecture you can deploy now
- Value to customers: Faster resolution, fewer handoffs, clearer service options. Show before-and-after metrics.
- Value to employees: Less drudge work, more skilled roles, paid training pathways. Name the programs and partners.
- Guardrails: Human-in-the-loop, privacy by design, bias testing, red-teaming. Reference standards or audits.
- Accountability: How issues are reported, fixed, and re-tested - with timelines.
Case notes: CBA vs Telstra
CBA: Openness on both progress and pitfalls helped them blunt criticism tied to AI-related job cuts. The takeaway: talk early, publish updates, and keep the story grounded in data and employee transition plans.
Telstra: Inconsistent public lines created a credibility gap. The takeaway: one source of truth for executives, IR teams, internal comms, and spokespeople - and evidence to back it up.
Metrics to track weekly
- Sentiment split: media vs social
- Message pull-through across channels
- Union and employee share of voice on your brand and sector
- Customer service KPIs tied to AI (AHT, FCR, CSAT, error rates)
- Reskilling participation and completion rates
Risk triggers to anticipate
- Job cut announcements without a reskilling plan and timeline
- Service outages or chatbot escalation failures
- Mixed messages between investor updates and internal comms
- Silence on privacy, bias, or human oversight
Policy anchors worth citing
Skill up your team
If your executives will speak confidently and credibly on AI, your comms team needs practical fluency in the tech, the issues, and the metrics. Short, targeted training can close the gap fast.
Explore AI courses by job function to build the baseline your leaders and spokespeople need.
Bottom line
AI can win headlines while seeding backlash. The organisations that keep trust do three things well: tell the truth about trade-offs, keep their story consistent, and invest in people as much as platforms.
The full Medianet report offers deeper analysis and recommendations for corporate affairs and communications teams.
