I hosted an event a few years ago for senior public affairs practitioners; a handful were experimenting with AI, but most were not, or worked for organisations that hadn’t yet allowed it.

How times have changed.

Over the past year I’ve had a growing number of conversations with heads of function who proudly tell me some variation of “Yes, we’re using AI now. But I’m not really sure to what extent or how we should be using it more strategically.”

Usually what they mean is this: the team is using generative AI to draft copy faster, tidy briefing notes, or assist with planning docs.

That’s a start. But it’s not transformation.

It reminds me of when social media first emerged inside public affairs functions. In the early days, it was treated as another channel or something to “add on” to the mix. The teams that thrived weren’t the ones that posted more often. They were the ones that understood it fundamentally changed how influence, reputation and stakeholder power worked. They listened, they observed, and approached the technology strategically, and in its own right.

This year is likely to see a similar transition. Some functions will transition to using AI in a strategic way, some will not.

The real inflection point isn’t AI adoption, but how public affairs chooses to evolve.

In our work across industries, we’ve seen how quickly the world is moving, how change is accelerating. Consultation processes generate thousands of submissions. Media cycles are shorter and more fragmented. Stakeholder mobilisation can be coordinated at speed and scale.

AI isn’t just helping us write about that environment. It is reshaping the environment itself.

Policymakers are using AI to model economic scenarios. Regulators are deploying it to detect patterns and enforce compliance. Journalists are experimenting with automated analysis of data sets. Advocacy groups can amplify narratives with synthetic content and hyper-targeted campaigns. The system public affairs operates within is becoming more complex and more dynamic.

If that’s true, then the function can’t just use AI at the edges. It has to rethink how it operates.

In the companies we advise, we’ve always framed the discipline around three core pillars: insight, strategy and execution. AI has implications for all three.

On insight, the opportunity is profound. Instead of static stakeholder maps and retrospective issue reports, teams can interrogate large volumes of data in hours, identify emerging themes in consultation submissions, map influence networks across sectors, and test how narratives are shifting in real time. That changes the quality of advice going to the CEO and the board. It moves the function from reactive monitoring to forward-looking intelligence.

On strategy, AI challenges the way we plan. Many public affairs strategies are still linear with annual plans being built around predictable engagement cycles. But when the external environment becomes more volatile and information-rich, strategy has to become dynamic. Assumptions need to be tested continuously. Scenario modelling becomes essential. The question shifts from “What is our message?” to “How do we position the organisation in a system that is constantly moving?”

On execution, yes, AI improves productivity. But that is the least interesting part. The real value lies in preparedness and precision. It might be about rehearsing difficult hearings, modelling hostile questioning, tailoring engagement approaches, anticipating second-order impacts before they crystallise publicly. Execution becomes more deliberate and more informed.

Of course, there is risk. Public affairs sits at the intersection of non-technical risk, reputation and ethics. If teams are using AI to analyse stakeholders, test messages or model influence, governance cannot be an afterthought. Data security, bias, transparency and alignment with corporate standards matter deeply. Human judgment cannot be outsourced.

The bigger risk, though, is inertia.

AI presents an important inflection point. The question for heads of function isn’t whether your team is experimenting with AI. It’s whether you are redesigning the function around the reality that the system itself has changed.

That requires leadership. It requires curiosity. And it requires moving beyond efficiency gains to strategic reinvention. The functions that do will not simply work faster. They will advise better, anticipate earlier, and shape outcomes more effectively.

And that, ultimately, is the real role of public affairs.

Author: Chandran Vigneswaran