PCI’s 2025 AI PREDICTIONS: WHAT’S NEXT FOR COMMUNICATIONS?

HOW AI WILL TRANSFORM COMMUNICATIONS IN THE YEAR AHEAD

The artificial intelligence landscape is evolving rapidly, reshaping industries at an unprecedented pace. At PCI, our AI Task Force—dedicated to strategically integrating AI for our agency and clients—has zeroed in on a critical question: how will AI redefine communications in 2025? In this blog, Task Force members share their expert predictions, exploring key trends in ethics, privacy, training, and creative workflows. Their insights highlight not only the challenges but also the opportunities AI presents, underscoring PCI’s commitment to helping clients navigate this transformative era with clarity and confidence.

Breaking the Bot Mold

We’ve all experienced it: we receive content from a company that clearly was written by ChatGPT. The more content AI generates, the more it appears to follow very similar content formats (too many emojis, overly buttoned-up language, etc.) and, as a result, fewer brand distinctions. I predict that companies will significantly expand their employee AI-use guidelines, fueling greater scrutiny of AI ethics and elevating the role of custom GPTs and prompt engineering.

– Michael Queroz, Senior Vice President, Digital

Balancing Innovation, Privacy and Trust

Healthcare systems and institutions will face increasing tension between innovation and privacy as they adopt AI without clear regulatory guidance. To maintain trust, organizations—and the communications teams that support them—will need to be ready to address misinformation and AI-driven ‘deepfakes.’ Just as social media crises became a staple of yesterday’s crisis plans, I predict that AI-driven scenarios will soon become a standard feature of today’s crisis communications strategies.

– Mary Erangey, Senior Vice President, Healthcare

AI Training Will Drive Success

AI training will become one of the most important aspects of successful AI integration at companies and organizations. Ensuring employees know how to get the most out of the tools available while using them safely will maximize the return on AI investment. Companies that neglect ongoing AI training will fall short of expected results from companywide AI implementation. AI skills will also become increasingly desirable for job applicants to minimize retraining and onboarding time.

– Jared Allread, Senior Account Executive

Value-Based Fee Structures Will Gain Traction

The increased adoption of AI in administrative and client work provides agencies an opportunity to sharpen their strategic focus and elevate the value they provide clients. When agencies move beyond activity-based execution to prioritize outcomes and results, they will build stronger, more effective partnerships and improve the overall quality of their work

– Jacqueline Rachev, APR, Senior Account Supervisor, Nonprofits, Business & Government

AI-Generated Video Will Create New Challenges

AI-generated video technology will become significantly more accessible and widely adopted across traditional and new media. While this will gain a large following for its efficiency and creativity, it will also be heavily criticized. The growing reliance on AI-generated video will raise ethical questions, especially regarding its impact on video editors and the creative process. These concerns may include authorship disputes, potential biases in generated content, and the devaluation of human creative input.

– Ben Vrobel, Digital Marketing Associate