10.8 Conclusion
Artificial Intelligence Writing Applications (AIWAs) are disrupting business communication practices, and it is likely you will use them in your professional and academic work if you haven’t already (Cardon, et al. 2023a; Dobrin, 2023; Getchell, et al., 2023). While they offer potential benefits like increased efficiency and consistency, it’s essential that you use them responsibly and ethically to enhance your abilities, and avoid costly mistakes in decision-making and damaged reputations (yours and your business’s). To do this, you must be an ethical user of AI (Lentz, 2024) and develop AI literacy (Cardon, et al. , 2023a), a skillset that enables individuals to understand AI’s capabilities and limitations (application), retain their unique voice and enhance their relationships (authenticity), exercise human judgment, control, critical thinking, and creativity in the communication process (accountability and agency).
To leverage AIWAs effectively, it’s important to provide clear and specific prompts (Saleem, 2024). AIWAs can be prompted to assist in various tasks, including brainstorming, research, proofreading, content (message) creation, and presentation development (Cardon, et al., 2023a). However, you must remember that AIWAs cannot actually think. Your input, control, and understanding of what is needed out of a message is necessary to ensure the quality and relevance of the output.
AI technologies are rapidly advancing and as they continue to evolve, issues like AI hallucinations, biased training data, data privacy, and human understanding of and overreliance on technology must be addressed by AI developers, business communication educators and students, and employee training and development professionals (Cardon, et al., 2023a; Getchell, et al., 2023).
Ongoing research and development are needed to improve AI models and ensure they are trained on diverse and unbiased datasets. Additionally, fostering a culture of critical thinking and information literacy will empower students and professionals to evaluate AI-generated content and make informed ethical decisions. As AI takes on routine tasks, skills such as emotional intelligence, interpersonal skills, and effective verbal communication will become increasingly valuable in the workplace (Cardon, et al., 2023b). These skills will enable individuals to build strong relationships, collaborate effectively, and navigate complex social and emotional situations, setting them apart in an AI-powered workplace.
