Erik Sebok is a strategic internal communications expert with over a decade of experience helping businesses connect with their people in meaningful ways. A self-confessed AI enthusiast, Erik has become one of the leading voices on how AI tools like Copilot can transform the internal communications landscape. He’s spent the past year experimenting, learning and sharing practical ways AI can support busy teams always with a focus on strategy, creativity and the all-important human touch.
Hi Eric. Your Promptly Yours newsletters on the use of AI in internal communications gets a lot of traction. What prompted you to start these newsletters?
Promptly Yours began as a practical solution to a challenge I noticed: people wanted to revisit or share my LinkedIn posts about AI, but with the pace and volume of content there, it was easy for useful insights to get lost in the feed.
So, I decided to create a monthly newsletter that acts as a curated roundup of my LinkedIn posts. Essentially, it’s a one-stop resource where people can quickly find the frameworks, case studies, and practical tips I’ve shared. Each issue is themed around a key topic or narrative, so readers get a coherent story rather than just a list of links.
It’s less about broadcasting new content and more about connecting the dots, surfacing what’s most useful and helping the communications community stay ahead.
For internal communications teams anxious about AI, where should they start?
The best place to start is with curiosity and small, practical experiments rather than trying to master everything at once or worrying about being left behind.
I always recommend beginning with the basics:
- Get hands-on with the tools: Try using AI for simple tasks like drafting emails, summarising meeting notes or brainstorming ideas. Treat it as a collaborator, not a replacement.
- Focus on prompt writing: The quality of your prompts directly shapes the output. Start by giving clear context, specifying your audience and stating your objectives. Don’t be afraid to iterate and treat the first draft as a starting point.
- Build confidence through sharing: Run short team workshops where you experiment together, review outputs, and share what works (and what doesn’t). This helps demystify AI and builds a culture of learning.
- Stay strategic: Use AI to help with the work that matters, like strategic alignment, stakeholder engagement and storytelling.
- Ask for help: There’s a growing community of internal communications professionals sharing tips, frameworks and lessons learned. Tap into these resources and don’t hesitate to ask questions.
The more you experiment, the more confident and strategic your use will become.
Where do you see AI delivering real strategic value, beyond just being a tactical tool?
AI’s real strategic value in internal communications goes far beyond speeding up tasks or generating quick drafts. The biggest impact comes when we use AI to improve our thinking, deepen our insights and drive meaningful change across the business.
- Insight at scale: Turn raw employee feedback into themes and risks leaders can act on.
- Communications strategies and plans: Build employee‑centric communication strategies and plans that link objectives, stakeholders and outcomes.
- Stronger dialogue: Spot sentiment early and create feedback loops, moving from broadcast to engagement.
- Leadership support: Coach tone, anticipate questions and help leaders show up consistently and authentically.
- Inclusion and accessibility: Audit language, localise content and reduce barriers so more voices are heard.
What early or common mistakes do organisations make when rolling out AI tools like Copilot?
Based on what I’ve seen and heard, a common early mistake is treating AI tools as quick fixes rather than genuine collaborators. People often expect instant and perfect results without providing enough context or guidance, and as a result, the outputs are generic and not very useful.
Another pitfall is skipping over training, especially around prompt writing. Teams sometimes underestimate how important it is to learn how to brief AI clearly and iteratively.
Change management is also frequently overlooked. If you roll out AI without linking it to business goals or employee needs, you risk confusion or resistance from your teams.
Finally, transparency and feedback are essential. If you don’t explain how AI is being used, or fail to gather feedback and refine your approach, trust and adoption can quickly stall.
Success comes from treating AI as a strategic partner, investing in training and embedding it thoughtfully into your culture.
You work closely on employee engagement: how do you think AI changes the relationship between internal communications teams and employees?
I think it’s made communication more accessible. Employees can use AI tools to draft messages, analyse feedback or create content themselves. This has empowered more people to participate in the conversation and share their voices, which is a positive shift for engagement and inclusion.
However, it’s also created the perception that anyone can be a communications expert just by using AI. While these tools are great for speeding up tasks and sparking ideas, they don’t replace the strategic thinking, judgement and understanding of culture that professional internal communications teams bring. AI can help with the mechanics, but it’s still up to us to guide the narrative, ensure alignment with business goals, and maintain authenticity.
How do you see the role of internal communications professionals changing or evolving as a result?
It’s still early days, but, in an ideal world, we’ll move from being primarily content creators and channel managers to become strategic advisors, facilitators and enablers across the business.
We also have the potential to become coaches, helping colleagues and leaders use AI tools effectively, guiding them on tone, narrative, and audience needs. However, at the moment, this is not the impression I’m getting.
How transparent should we be with employees about how AI is being used in internal communications to maintain trust and authenticity?
My view is that transparency is important for building trust, but it’s also about context and intent. If AI is being used strategically, as a behind-the-scenes tool to support clarity, consistency, or efficiency, there’s often no need to make a big announcement about it. Employees don’t need to know every detail of the technology stack behind their communications, just as they don’t need to know which software was used to design a newsletter.
Ultimately, if AI is thoughtfully embedded into internal communications processes and used to enhance and not replace human judgement and authenticity, transparency becomes less about disclosure and more about maintaining trust through consistent, ethical practice.
What are red flags organisations should pay attention to with the overuse of AI to generate communications (and do you think AI raises the bar for communication quality or risks lowering it?)
There are definitely some red flags to watch out for. If businesses rely too heavily on AI to generate content, there’s a real risk of messages becoming generic, losing authenticity, or drifting away from the company’s unique voice and culture. Over-automation can also lead to ‘AI sameness’, where everything starts to sound the same and employees tune out.
Whether AI raises the bar or lowers it? It depends on how it’s used. If AI is applied strategically, it can absolutely raise the bar for quality and effectiveness. But if it’s used as a shortcut to churn out more content faster, it risks lowering standards and eroding trust.
What practical habits or workflows have you seen internal communications teams adopt that really unlock AI’s value?
From my own experience, the real value comes from using it as a strategic enabler, not as a productivity booster. I’ve built habits around integrating AI into my workflow in ways that support better thinking, not just faster output.
For example, I use AI to help me design smarter workshops and stakeholder sessions, surfacing sharper questions and structures that get to the heart of what matters. When I run feedback sessions or capture transcripts, I rely on AI to extract key themes, risks, and opportunities, often spotting subtle patterns I might have missed. This lets me move quickly from raw data to actionable insights.
Who should own AI governance in an organisation and what role should internal communications team play?
AI governance should ultimately be owned at the organisational level by a cross-functional group that includes IT, legal, risk, and senior leadership. They set the guardrails, policies, and ethical standards for how AI is used across the business.
But internal communications has a crucial role to play too. We’re the ones who shape the narrative, educate employees and ensure transparency around AI adoption. Our job is to make sure people understand not just the ‘what’ and ‘how’, but the ‘why’, connecting AI use to business goals, values, and culture.
In short, internal communications teams may not own the technical side of AI governance, but we’re essential partners in making sure it’s understood, accepted and embedded in the right way.
Agentic AI is creating a lot of excitement and buzz. What could it mean and offer internal communications teams in the next 12–24 months?
It’s generating a lot of buzz, but I think the conversation is heading in the wrong direction right now. Too many people are focusing on automation and outsourcing and treating AI agents as a way to hand off tasks and reduce human involvement. In my view, that misses the real opportunity.
The true value of agentic AI for internal communications teams is using it as a strategic enabler, not just a content generator. I’m already experimenting with AI agents that work alongside me to shape strategic communication plans, draft narrative-driven content for multiple channels, provide tone guidance for authentic leadership messaging and suggest measurement frameworks to track impact. These agents are grounded in verified internal data and organisational context, so every output is accurate, timely and aligned with business priorities.
Which internal communications workflows would be well suited to end-to-end automation, and which ones shouldn’t be automated?
I don’t believe in automating internal communications workflows. The heart of our work is about building trust, shaping culture and connecting people. That can’t be outsourced to AI. Automation might sound efficient, but it risks losing the nuance, authenticity and influence that make internal communications meaningful. Internal communications isn’t a task list!
Finally, any last thoughts you want to share on the realities of AI, what’s to come and how we should all position ourselves?
We shouldn’t get distracted by automation or outsourcing. Instead, we should focus on how AI can help us drive real outcomes, build trust, shape culture and move the internal communications profession forward.
Position yourself as a curious learner, a critical thinker and a strategic partner because the future of internal communications will belong to those who use AI thoughtfully, not just quickly.
Thank you Erik! For more AI tips and tricks, you can connect with Erik on LinkedIn.