Understanding how to work with AI, not just use it.
When sat navs and GPS first arrived, many people followed them blindly. Sometimes they worked brilliantly and sometimes they directed people into rivers.
We’ve all had the experience when the sat nav suddenly reroutes you, promising a clever shortcut that will save precious minutes on your journey. Feeling reassured by the calm voice and glowing blue line, you follow its instructions without question.
Ten minutes later, you’re bumping along a farmer’s track in the middle of nowhere.
The road hasn’t been resurfaced in years and the hedges on either side are closing in. You have no idea where you are, no signal on your phone and an increasing suspicion that you’ve made a terrible mistake.
The sat nav didn’t intentionally send you into a hedge-lined wilderness. The technology simply didn’t understand the full reality of the journey ahead. It didn’t know about the width of the road, the overgrown hedgerows or the three tractors you’d encounter along the way.
Most of us have learned an important lesson from experiences like this. Navigation technology is incredibly useful, but it works best when combined with human judgement. The best drivers don’t blindly follow every instruction. They use the technology as a guide while applying their own experience, awareness and common sense. Perhaps that’s the most useful way to think about AI, not as something that thinks for us, but as a tool that helps us think more clearly.
Let AI help you find a route but make sure you’re in the driving seat.
The first mistake: asking AI for answers
When people first start using AI, they often treat it like a vending machine.
They type in a request.
- Write me a press release.
- Create a campaign plan.
- Give me some social media posts.
Then they wait for the answer…
Sometimes the results are useful. Often, they’re disappointing. The temptation is to blame the technology, but the issue is usually not that AI is poor it’s that the question is poor.
Imagine walking into a room filled with experienced communications professionals and saying: “Give me an idea.” You wouldn’t expect brilliance. You haven’t provided any context, explained the audience, shared the challenges and constraints or described what success looks like.
So why would we expect AI to produce something brilliant from the same lack of information? The quality of the answer is shaped by the quality of the question or brief. AI is no different.
Ready. Steady. AI.
If briefing is the skill that unlocks better results, then perhaps the most useful way to think about working with AI is through three simple stages.
Ready
Most people open an AI tool and start typing. The better approach is to pause first and before asking AI anything, get clear on your own thinking.
- What are you trying to achieve?
- What problem are you trying to solve?
- What do you already know?
- What information is missing?
- What assumptions might be shaping your perspective?
It sounds simple, but this is often where the real work happens. A few minutes spent clarifying the challenge can save hours later. The clearer your thinking, the more useful AI becomes.
Steady
This is the stage many people miss they move straight from question to answer. But some of the most valuable AI interactions happen before you ask it to create anything. Instead of asking AI to produce a solution, ask it to explore the problem with you.
- Challenge your assumptions.
- Offer alternative perspectives.
- Identify risks.
- Test a message with different audiences.
- Point out weaknesses in your argument.
- Explore what might be missing.
This is where AI becomes less like a content generator and more like a thinking partner. Not because it has all the answers, but because it can help you see possibilities you may not have considered.
For communications professionals, that’s incredibly valuable. Our work is rarely straightforward we deal with people, perceptions, politics, emotions and competing priorities. Being able to quickly explore different angles can help us make better decisions.
AI
Only now should you focus on the output in whatever form that comes. Develop a prompt built on everything that you have explored and learnt. Be specific about what you do and don’t want from this next step.
Finally, we shouldn’t be accepting the AI output as the final destination. It’s just the next step on the journey. The human hand should be back on the wheel checking, reviewing and critiquing and using this as a jumping off point for shaping and building on.
The difference is that you’re no longer starting with a blank page and a vague request. You’ve already done the thinking, you’ve clarified the challenge and explored different perspectives, so the output is stronger. AI hasn’t replaced your thinking – it’s helped you think more broadly before deciding what to do next.
The real value of AI
Much of the conversation around AI focuses on productivity: faster writing, quicker research and automated tasks. But, its greatest value may be helping us think differently.
A useful interaction with AI doesn’t always provide the answer. Sometimes it helps us ask a better question, challenge an assumption, or spot a possibility we’d overlooked.
For communications professionals, that’s powerful. Our job isn’t to find the obvious answer. It’s to find the most effective one.
Back to the sat nav
Most of us no longer debate whether sat navs are useful, we’ve already worked that out. We’ve learned when to follow their advice and when to ignore it.
We understand that while the technology can help us find the best route, it doesn’t replace our ability to think, assess and make decisions. Sat navs only guide the journey – they don’t drive the car.
Perhaps AI deserves the same approach? Not blind trust, but a thoughtful partnership.
AI can help us see more of the map but only humans can decide where the journey should lead.
Ready.
Steady.
AI.
Ready to explore what’s possible?
At Alive, we’re helping teams explore where AI can add value to communications, engagement and strategy without losing the human insight, judgement and creativity that make great work possible.
Whether you’re taking your first steps with AI or looking to build confidence in how your team uses it, we’d love to have a conversation.
Get in touch to explore what’s possible.
