How AI Will Shape Communications In 2025
The communications landscape in 2025 will remain dynamic and multifaceted, shaped by advancements in technology and other evolutions in society.
Rapid evolution creates uncertainty, however, which is why most communications leaders ponder these questions at the beginning of every year: What will shape the next 12 months, and how will our lives and perspectives evolve?
Numerous predictions have been made to start this year, but how can business leaders know which trends will pan out, especially in an age when it’s hard to know which content is human-generated and which is machine-generated?
For example, the rise of AI—heading into its third year—is showing no sign of fading. On the other hand, the metaverse—one of the top focuses of prediction articles a few years ago—has largely disappeared from mainstream discourse.
According to McKinsey, AI adoption among organizations rose to 72% by May 2024. While there is still enthusiasm for the metaverse, business adoption has faded since its peak in 2022. One difference is that AI continues to show a real impact in our lives; meanwhile, the metaverse market has been limited to VR/AR headsets, which have lagged in adoption by the masses thus far.
Based on where we are now, I’ll explore why I think AI will be at the center of where the world of communications is heading, with the understanding that these trends will continue to evolve.
The Ever-Increasing Role Of AI In Communications
Data-driven insights will continue to influence business decisions. Because of this—and because of its user-friendliness and accessibility—AI will continue to shape all industries.
Within the communications landscape, in particular, the impact of AI will also play an ever-expanding role in the day-to-day lives of our teams. Companies like Google, OpenAI, Microsoft and others, for example, have unveiled advanced versions of their chatbots over the last year, capable of handling complex tasks at unprecedented speeds.
As AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants become more capable of engaging in human-like conversations, the impact on the communications space will be significant.
Real-time AI translation tools by Google and Microsoft are bridging linguistic divides and opening new audiences for companies. Speechify’s text-to-speech and speech-to-text features are helping companies make their communications more accessible to people with disabilities. Likewise, emotional support chatbots like Replika and mental health support chatbots like Woebot are paving the way for empathetic and humanized communications with AI.
Furthermore, AI will play an increasing role in content creation. Communications and marketing teams will be more capable of generating personalized marketing messages and engaging narratives with AI-powered tools. These tools will empower individuals and businesses to produce high-quality content with much greater efficiency.
For example, Sora—OpenAI’s new tool—can generate videos with text and image inputs, allowing storytellers to experiment with various visual styles in a more interactive and personalized manner. This democratizing technology will make high-quality video production accessible to communications teams at organizations of all sizes, empowering them to expand creative possibilities and captivate audiences with immersive experiences.
However, the ethics of AI and the authentic nature of communication remain a critical concern, particularly in the face of AI-generated misinformation. Marketing and communications leaders—as well as leaders in other industries—face a daunting challenge: maintaining user trust amid the proliferation of inauthentic content.
Governments are already responding to the concern of declining trust in AI, with several governments around the world passing or considering legislation that impacts AI content. This is happening alongside other regulatory trends that will have a massive impact on communications, such as the Australian government recently banning social media for all users under 16.
These legislations underscore the growing importance of ethical communication practices. Necessary safeguards against deepfakes and misinformation have yet to materialize, while questions around copyright infringement and misuse of IP remain unanswered. Additionally, there are fears of human job losses due to AI advancements, which may be overblown in my view, but this warrants extensive conversation around the ethical integration of the technology.
Conclusion
Communication trends are influenced by various factors, some of which may be hard to predict. These trends, though, will play a critical role in our lives, so it will be exciting to see whether communications leaders adopt these trends and seek inspiration from them. We’ll find out over the next 11 months.
Regardless, don’t exclude the influence of human connection, which will remain indispensable in effective communication. Empathy, originality and ability to influence other beings will continue to be highly valued in a world dominated by technology.
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