Nearly two years after ChatGPT launched, it feels like we’re still scratching the surface with generative AI – but the impact is already apparent. 

Generative AI is poised to fundamentally transform the way we live and connect, much like the printing press, broadcast media, personal computing, search, and social platforms once did. The potential seems limitless, and the growth rate feels exponential.

Of course, as we experiment with these new tools, we also need to grapple with their inherent issues—issues like bias, hallucinations, the potential for abuse, and disruptions in the labor market. Many of these issues will ultimately need to be addressed at the societal level—and there’s a long way to go on some of them—but the early progress there is encouraging. 

At Yahoo, we’re taking a consumer-driven approach to generative AI, exploring a variety of new products and features to improve our users’ experience. So far these have included useful and fun features like key takeaways in Yahoo News, email summaries in Yahoo Mail, and recaps for fantasy leagues on Yahoo Sports. 

We've also been experimenting with generative AI in our communications work at Yahoo. For example, we use Axios HQ and Glean for internal comms, ChatGPT and LinkedIn’s writing assistant to generate draft copy, and Otter.ai for transcriptions and summaries.

Our early tests of these tools have been very successful, but as we’ve explored their potential, it’s become clear that we need to consider how we want generative AI to be used in our field—and how we don’t. 

To help guide that process, we have developed the following principles:

PRINCIPLE 1: USE GEN AI FOR SCALE, NOT STRATEGY

All great communications work begins with a deep understanding of your audience, a clear strategy for reaching and influencing that audience, and an ability to articulate the "why" in addition to the "what" in a given situation. 

Generative AI can be very helpful with the "what"—quickly generating draft copy and assets, providing quantitative insights into your audience, and so on—and that, in turn, can help your team scale and move more quickly. 

But everything needs to begin with the foundation of strategy, audience, and the "why" – and building that foundation still requires human-level contextual understanding, judgment, and empathy.

PRINCIPLE 2: FOCUS ON THE COMMUNICATIONS THAT MATTER MOST

As these generative AI tools become more powerful, they could theoretically be used to communicate about everything to everyone, leaving no detail about your company unexplained, externally or internally. 

But just because we can communicate more — more releases, more social posts, more internal newsletters -- doesn't always mean we should. 

In fact, we believe it's more important than ever to stay focused on only the most important communications to avoid information overload. We need to help our audiences find the signal in the noise, not create more noise.

PRINCIPLE 3: PUT AUTHENTICITY AND TRUST FIRST

Authenticity is more important than ever, and trust is one of the most valuable—and one of the most fragile—assets a company can have. One of the uncanny things about generative AI is it can make anyone sound like an expert on anything. The reality is these systems still make mistakes, and while they can often sound authentic, they are not. 

This means it's more important than ever to have rigorous human review of all communications before they ship or post and to put people front and center in our communications. 

For key audiences like employees, consumers, corporate stakeholders, press, and policymakers, there is no substitute for hearing directly from the people leading our company and those driving the work every day—and hearing from them in their own voices and perspectives.

Beyond communicating, AI can help us take some of the monotonous work off our plates and give us more space and time to use our imagination and intuition. In some ways, it can even stimulate the imagination and serve as a “bicycle of the mind” as Steve Jobs once referred to computers — helping amplify imagination, test theories, and explore ideas that will generate even more ideas, angles, exploration, and refinement.  Just be sure to keep the principles at heart when tapping into the best of AI in your communications practice.

Sona Iliffe-Moon is the chief communications officer at Yahoo, where she oversees global corporate, consumer, and internal communications for Yahoo News, Finance, and Sports. With over 20 years of experience, she has led strategic communications for major companies including Facebook, Instagram, Lyft, and Toyota. Prior to Yahoo, Iliffe-Moon worked at top PR agencies Weber Shandwick and Hill & Knowlton and served as a foreign affairs officer in the Bureau of Arms Control at the U.S. Department of State. She is a member of the USC Center for PR board of advisers.