What will happen to the workplace when AI becomes so ubiquitous that it’s invisible? A panel of experts at our recent event told us not to panic.
Since ChatGPT first worked its way into our conversations, workplace discussions around artificial intelligence (AI) have often felt trapped in a zero-sum game: if one side wins, the other loses.
But is the truth that binary? Do we really have to choose between human talent or machine efficiency; job protection or automation?
These were among the questions raised during a session at our recent summer event, The Common Room. If we imagined a world in which the use of AI was so commonplace it had become invisible, what would human input look like? Would it even be required?
There was consensus that binary framing around AI misses the mark entirely. The real opportunity for businesses is not to replace human minds, but to pair the incredible tech competencies we have at our disposal with our own human creativity and critical judgement. As one of our expert panellists said: “We need to get to a point where we can use the computational brilliance we have with AI, but overlaid by human creativity.”
It’s about reframing AI as a catalyst for human potential – and understanding that will be essential for using it to drive true value for our businesses’ audiences and customers.
In The Common Room, our guests focused on three ways to build a future that successfully harnesses the power of AI.
1. A thinking partner
No-one at The Common Room was advocating for AI as a quick fix to reduce headcount. So, what is it good for?
We heard that AI excels at rapidly processing data and at pattern recognition. It does this at speeds that far exceed human capabilities. Do its summaries and extrapolation of insight need checking? Yes, they certainly do. Can it achieve those uniquely human levels of understanding around context, moral reasoning or emotional intelligence? Can it be as suspicious, inquisitive or even cynical as the human mind? Absolutely not. Well, perhaps not yet.
At a general level, then, AI shouldn’t be thought of as something that diminishes human insight or a need for the authentic human relationships and connections that hold teams together.
“I’d suggest that you definitely use AI as a thinking partner,” said one of our AI experts at The Common Room, “but don’t get it to jump to the solution before you’ve really thought through the problem.”
AI should accelerate our thinking process, not replace problem-solving.
2. Unlocking specialist value at scale
Another area in which AI can truly shine is in expanding communications’ reach and capability. We heard how levels of organic search have plummeted in recent years. Relying on broad, generalist content to get you seen in Google is no longer a viable growth strategy.
Instead, forward-thinking organisations are leveraging AI to power their specialist, hyper-niche content streams. In the past, dedicated content for tiny sub-segments of an audience was a non-starter, economically. Today, AI enables publishers to curate tailored, relevant feeds for specialised communities at manageable cost.
At CPL One, we are already trialling this for a number of clients. It works because humans provide editorial authority and sector expertise, while AI handles the heavy lifting of aggregation and distribution. Could it be a game-changer for your organisation? As one of our panellists put it: “If you can effortlessly increase your content by 100% and use it to speak to more people in a precise way… then you’re going to change the picture very quickly.”
However, scaling content through AI also requires good and rigorous governance, particularly around copyright and intellectual property. A critical challenge all media are facing is that AI often takes high-value editorial content, written by expert journalists, without permission to train its large language models (LLMs). This may monetise the technology while also stripping traffic from the original editorial sources.
Members of our panel reasoned that, to maintain quality outputs, we must safeguard the human input. Establishing fair commercial frameworks is as essential to keeping the AI ecosystem viable as locating the best content to feed the machine.
3. The cost of getting it wrong
A common misconception, especially in the wider media world, is that deploying AI will deliver immediate cost savings. In reality, making the leap to AI production models may also drive up costs – especially without foundational training for employees.
Poor prompting habits, repeating redundant requests and generally inefficient use of AI can be a drain on potential savings. One message to business leaders here was to invest in upskilling existing teams rather than seeking to reduce staff levels.
Our panel at The Common Room discussed how transparent communication around AI is paramount to achieve this. Employees need clarity on how technology will transform their workflows, alongside dedicated space to experiment safely.
When employees understand that AI can help strip away repetitive tasks so they can focus on more rewarding areas of work, fear gives way to innovation.
The path forward
Narratives around AI that pit human good against AI evil are already outdated. AI can’t be thought of as a replacement for human ingenuity – it is its amplifier. Harness it, and its speed and power can free people to do what humans do best: build trust, think critically and create with purpose.
