Ask Devin

Ironically, this is kind of the whole ethos behind Ask Devin. I use AI every day, and I know a whole lot of other internal communicators do, too. It helps us work faster, produce more, and scale in ways we just can’t on our own. Especially if you’re a team of one like me!

That said, I think we’ve all had the experience of sending a prompt to ChatGPT and immediately thinking, “Nope… that’s not what I meant.” Sometimes you end up spending more time prompt-engineering than actually solving the original problem. And that’s because internal comms isn’t just about execution — it’s just as much about judgment, context, taste, and lived experience.

There’s absolutely a time and place for AI, and there’s a time and place for your own point of view to show up. I can’t give a perfect rule for when to use one versus the other, but I honestly think you just know. You know your employees, your workplace dynamics, and your leadership team better than any AI tool ever will — even the paid versions. Humans are nuanced and complicated, and AI doesn’t always have the room (or capacity) for that nuance.

Where AI really shines for me is as a support system, not a decision-maker. A few practical ways I use it today:

Drafting and summarizing: turning long notes, transcripts, or recordings into first drafts, outlines, or TL;DRs that I can then refine and shape.

Editing and clarity checks: pressure-testing tone, readability, or structure before something goes out, especially for complex or sensitive messages.

Scaling personalization: helping tailor content for different audiences or channels without starting from scratch every time.

One thing that’s made a big difference is bringing our brand voice and tone into how we use AI. Instead of starting from a blank prompt every time, you can build custom GPTs or reusable prompts that reflect how your company actually communicates. That might mean uploading writing samples, brand or comms guidelines, or past internal emails that really nailed the tone.

You can also make AI smarter by grounding it in real employee data. Survey results, engagement feedback, or themes from listening tours are incredibly helpful inputs. Using that information to inform drafts or summaries keeps AI outputs rooted in what employees are actually experiencing — not just what sounds good on paper.

AI helps me get started faster, but the most important part still has to be human. The final message should sound like us, reflect what we know about our people, and land with the right context and care.

So no, I don’t see ever AI replacing internal communicators anytime soon. I see it making us more effective — freeing up time to focus on strategy, relationships, and the human side of communication that actually makes this work meaningful.