AI’s impact on marketing, corporate affairs, journalism

There is a change in AI use. Stated simply, we are moving from “I do the work” to “I manage systems that do the work.”

The shift is from doing to directing, and judgment is increasingly the scarce skill.

In March, I wrote that AI would smash jobs in communications. That a consultancy of 20 would shrink to six or seven. It was based on me, almost a year earlier, researching what a corporate affairs company would look like in 2030. My view has hardened over the 18 months. AI is getting cheaper, faster and more capable every month.

What is becoming clearer is the jobs those six or seven will do. What is still unclear is what new jobs will open up for 13-14 who lose theirs, and when the change will occur.

The change is about the nature of the work itself. I believe it will, eventually, affect all of us in communications

The dividing line

AI automates the execution of campaign drafts, content production and first-draft news copy. What it does not automate is the judgment that sits behind it, making it trustworthy: Is this true, is the source authoritative, does the argument survive scrutiny, what is the risk nobody has seen yet.

That judgment is what all communications professionals do when they are doing their jobs well. It is what a corporate affairs director briefs a CEO on a public statement, or an investigative journalist applies to a source’s claim, or what a senior marketer applies when deciding whether a campaign’s promise can actually be kept. Different job titles. Same skill.

Trust = Truth + Transparency + Traceability. That formula is the dividing line between the communications work AI can do, and the communications work that survives.

If your job is to produce content, you are competing with AI that produces it faster and cheaper. If your job is to ensure what gets said is true, transparent and traceable, you are doing irreplaceable work.

The numbers show the trend

When I wrote the original piece, the data on AI displacement in communications was still guesstimates. Less so now. We are still in the transformation. But the trend is there.

Anthropic’s occupational analysis of 800 professions, published in March 2026, is the clearest evidence yet. Marketing specialists ranked fifth on its list of roles most exposed (64.8%) to AI displacement. Multiple studies confirm the pattern.

For journalism, I can’t find strong data, but AI could in theory strengthen aspects like research, multiple drafts, and competitor analysis, for starters. Journalists that simply rehash existing information are replaceable.

In all cases, execution is replaceable. What is irreplaceable is believability.

From doing to directing

Peter Wilkinson, Managing Director of Wilkinson Group

The author – Peter Wilkinson

The scarce skill is no longer “I know how to do this.” It is becoming “I know what needs to be done, I know how to get AI to do much of it, and I know how to tell whether the result is right.”

The driver is the growth of AI agents.

A consultant who once spent a morning researching, drafting and filing can now give that entire job to an agent. A journalist who once spent hours on research and drafting can have a first pass in minutes. The professional’s role becomes wise direction, quality control, and the judgment that what’s produced fits the purpose.

This requires constant learning. Andy Dumbell’s podcast, The AI Breakdown, is one excellent source (the jargon takes getting used to).

What this means for jobs

A junior person can ask AI to produce a 2,000-word analysis. An experienced person looks at it and immediately sees the argument that does not survive scrutiny.

The challenge for juniors? It’s unclear but unsettling. The entry-level professional might not be the one with the fanciest degree. It might be the one who can improve what we do. Right now it’s not clear

The question for anyone whose work depends on being believed

When I was a journalist, I always aimed to have the best ideas. That is irreplaceable. So is doing an interview that inspires emotion that’s not gratuitous. Now, with constant learning, I try to stay one step ahead.

AI will write faster than you, research more broadly than you, and produce serviceable output at a fraction of the cost. None of that touches the work that actually matters. It’s finding the story no one is telling, verifying claims under pressure, advising a board on what not to say, building the chain of evidence that earns a consumer’s trust.

The trust formula above is our protection. Senior journalists and comms practitioners have known that for years. The difference now is that everything around it is being automated. And it’s fast. Work on building your reputation daily, because none of us can hide. I think the question is no longer whether this shift will affect you. It is whether you want to be ahead of it or a victim of it?