This is the second in a three-part series recapping our salon event, “The Future of Reputation in the Age of AI,” hosted at Highwire’s San Francisco office on November 12, 2025.
While the headlines about AI tend to focus on disruption, the conversation in our San Francisco office focused on application – how communications leaders are using AI right now to get smarter, faster, and more precise.
Whether it's predictive analytics, internal agents, or training strategies, what became clear during our panel was this: AI isn’t replacing the work. It’s rebuilding the comms stack from the inside out.
Here are five examples of how AI is already transforming comms at the organizational level:
AI is most powerful when it’s viewed as a member of the team.
“At least three agents in our org chart by the end of the year—that was the challenge,” said Caroline Nolan, VP of Communications at Pinterest. “And we've done that.”
One agent delivers a daily news summary
One writes and maintains the CEO’s external voice
One surfaces strong exec sound bites for internal use
“They're managed by people. Real people,” she added. “They're about 60% there, but the CEO language one is probably up to 80% now.”
Eric Porterfield of Roblox shared how his team is piloting a predictive model that analyzes public sentiment and legislative language to forecast state-level regulatory risk:
“It tells you which legislators you should really be paying attention to... You can’t deploy enough people to monitor what’s happening in every state capital.”
From political trends to customer behavior, comms teams are leveraging AI to anticipate—not just react.
3. Press Releases Aren’t Dead – They’re Training the Models
“We just rebranded it to ‘AI release,’” said Porterfield, referring to the value of wire distribution as a way to inform large language models (LLMs).
“You don’t send them to journalists anymore. It’s across the wire to inform the LLM.”
This shift reframes PR outputs not just as media touchpoints, but as inputs for AI systems shaping how information is found and shared.
“I think this is where we really rely on our agencies,” Porterfield said. “To really help us understand what are the trends, what are the tools… keep us smart.”
The panel emphasized that internal comms teams can’t keep up alone, and that agencies who come to the table with real AI fluency are elevating their value as strategic partners.
During a recent internal hackathon at PG&E, a junior team member built an AI agent that turns meeting notes into structured operating plans.
“She isn’t senior on the team, but the passion... she created a really good use case,” said David McCulloch, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer at PG&E.
Rather than replacing entry-level work, smart AI adoption is becoming a proving ground for early-career talent, and a training path for the next generation of comms leaders.
Check out Part 3 where we dig into how comms leaders are navigating trust, regulation, and internal adoption in an era of accelerating AI capability and public scrutiny.
To learn more about how Highwire is approaching the new age of AI, check out our AI Index, AI Maturity Model and Corporate Reputation offerings.