AI Ops for Comms: What Top Teams Do Differently.
- Bianca Prade
- Aug 31
- 3 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
AI isn’t the future of work anymore—it’s the workspace itself. But the real differentiator isn’t who can prompt the best or buy the newest tool. It’s who can run AI well—with clear rules, accountability, and human judgment.
This post lays out the Rules of Engagement every communications team should have in place before they let AI anywhere near their workflows.
Why This Matters
Every comms shop now has someone “experimenting” with AI. But experiments don’t scale. Operations do.
If you want to move fast and protect your credibility, you need AI SOPs—Standard Operating Procedures that tell everyone on your team the same thing: what’s allowed, what’s off-limits, and how work gets reviewed and stored.
The 7 Rules of Engagement for Using AI in Comms
These are your working rules—your AI playbook.Write them down, share them, and revisit them as the tech evolves.
Purpose: Define the role of AI. Use AI to assist, not decide. Draft, summarize, outline, or check tone—but never to set policy, publish statements, or speak for leadership.
Sources: Feed it what’s approved. Stick to your brand book, boilerplate, FAQs, and verified materials.If it’s not cleared for public use, it shouldn’t be in your AI prompts.
Prompts: Write like a strategist, not a gambler. Give context, audience, and goal. Example:“Draft a 150-word announcement in our member voice using this press release as the base.”Keep a shared prompt bank for consistency.
Drafts: Always verify and humanize. First drafts are just that. Check every fact, fix the tone, and make sure it sounds like your organization—not a machine.
Approvals: Keep the chain intact. AI doesn’t remove review. The same standards that apply to press materials or social copy apply to AI-assisted work.
Disclosure: Be transparent. Tell readers when AI helped. Short, simple lines work best:“AI-assisted draft, human-edited and approved.”“Summary generated with AI from meeting notes, verified by [Name].”
Documentation: Show your work. Save the prompt, first output, and final version with editor notes.It’s your audit trail—and your safety net if questions come up later.
The 5 Records Worth Keeping (Simple, Not Bureaucratic)
Think of this as your AI receipt. It’s how you prove your team did the work responsibly.
Tool + Version: e.g., “Drafted with Microsoft 365 Copilot (Oct 2025).”
Prompt + Output: The key prompt and first draft.
Human Edits: One line on what changed (“tightened tone, added verified data”).
Sources: Links or filenames used for facts.
Final Approval: Who reviewed it and when.
That’s it—five quick notes that turn chaos into clarity.
When to Let AI Help (and When to Keep It Out)
Good uses: meeting summaries, outlines, social post variants, alt-text, style checks, calendars.
Bad uses: policy statements, legal or financial language, crisis comms, or anything that hasn’t been reviewed by a human with authority.
Versioning: Keep Track of Model Changes
Models evolve constantly—and their tone shifts with each update. Add a quiet internal note to drafts:
“AI-assisted draft (Copilot Oct 2025) → human-edited (Rivera) → approved (K. Shah).”
It’s a five-second habit that protects your brand voice long-term.
A 30-60-90 Plan to Make It Real
Next 30 days
List every tool your team uses.
Draft your 7 Rules of Engagement.
Create a shared prompt folder.
Start logging two small tasks (recaps, alt-text).
Days 31–60
Pilot AI on low-risk content.
Add short disclosure lines where needed.
Train the team—one live demo, one saved SOP doc.
Days 61–90
Expand to more channels.
Turn your logs into a simple “trust dashboard”: time saved, errors caught, revisions avoided.
Update the SOPs and lock in your workflow.
The Bottom Line
In 2026, the best teams won’t just use AI. They’ll operate it like pros—with rules, reviews, and records that keep creativity fast and credible.That’s what separates an organization experimenting with AI from one that’s ready to scale it.
Need a head start? BStrategies’ AI Readiness & Comms Stack Audit gives you the templates, SOPs, and a clean 30-60-90 plan you can implement right away.
