Using artificial intelligence in communication

1. AI in Communication – A New Era?

The challenge: Email, SMS, social media and other online services have become indispensable. We are all bombarded with messages, information and advertising. We are no longer masters of our perception and suffer from distraction – increasingly even while we sleep. So we are slipping into an agitated society, where we become more and more agitated about what we perceive. The anxiety is fed by the filter and echo bubbles we build around ourselves to cope with the chaos. The problem is that these provide one-way information, making interpersonal communication difficult in the analogue age and almost impossible in the digital age.

The goal: To overcome this powerlessness in the digital age and to communicate successfully (more successfully), we need to become more digitally fit. This digital fitness will be so important in the future because we are increasingly outsourcing communication to applications that work with artificial intelligence.

Status quo: AI has already found its way into communications in a variety of ways. Privately, we know it from voice assistants on smartphones (e.g. SIRI) or in the home (e.g. Alexa).

But if you speak nonsense into the Alexa box, only nonsense comes out.

AI is generally understood as the ability of machines to mimic or imitate human behaviour. In the field of communications, cognitive AI, i.e. AI or Generative AI that is capable of imitating human behaviour, is most commonly used.

Opportunities for business: In business communications, however, AI is really taking off.

Five examples for business communication with AI

1. One example of this is speech analysis. By analyzing speech patterns, AI can detect whether a person is emotionally charged or not. This can be helpful in customer conversations, for example, to see whether the customer is satisfied or not. AI can also already be very helpful in translating speech. By analyzing speech patterns, it can detect and correct errors that a human would overlook.
2. In social networks, AI already plays a major role today. For example, chatbots are increasingly being used to interact with users. Here, too, speech analytics can be used to detect users’ moods and offer them appropriate help.
3. In marketing communications, it can be used to improve a chatbot’s voice output or make it easier to search for specific information. AI is also being used more and more in social networks, for example to play out personalized advertising. In this context, AI can be used both for content creation and for the analysis and targeting of communication measures.
4. The creation of personalized content is a key benefit that AI offers. By analyzing user behavior, AI can create content that is tailored to the exact needs of the user. Among other things, it can display messages or advertisements that are precisely tailored to the recipient’s interest.
5. AI also facilitates the segmentation of target groups and the targeting of communication measures. By analyzing data, companies can find out exactly which target group is interesting for which product or service. This enables companies to target their communication measures specifically at the relevant target groups and thus maximize their impact.

However, the risks associated with the use of artificial intelligence in communication should not be ignored.

2. What are the risks of AI in communication?

One of the greatest dangers is distortion of communication. Distortion is usually caused by a lack of information between the sender and receiver. No technology can help if the artificial intelligence only has one-way access to certain information.

Everyone knows an example of distorted communication from the analogue world. If I’m talking to my friend and he says something that hurts me, I might think he meant it. But in fact he might not have meant it at all. Maybe he was just teasing me. Or maybe he wasn’t in a good mood himself and I misinterpreted his words.

Another example of the distortion of communication in the digital world is the social networking site Facebook. On Facebook, people can create their own profile with all sorts of information about themselves, such as where they work, their favourite music or their political views. Other Facebook users can see this information and draw conclusions about the person. But people can also spread a lot of false information about themselves on Facebook, which can distort communication.

Digital communication is a process in which information is exchanged between many people. In a perfect world, these communication processes would run smoothly and without distortion. Unfortunately, the world is not perfect and communication suffers from distortion.

The most common type of distortion is called “semantic distortion”. This type of distortion occurs when the meaning of a message is misinterpreted. Another common problem is called ‘syntactic distortion’. This happens when a message is misunderstood because it is not phrased correctly.

3. This is how to develop your digital communication with AI

As with any other type of communication, there are some essential rules to follow when communicating digitally. These include:

• Be clear and concise: When communicating digitally, it’s especially important to be clear and concise. Since you can’t talk face-to-face, misunderstandings can easily arise. So make sure your message is as clear as possible.
• Listen: Good communication is a two-way process. Listening is at least as important as talking. Make sure you understand what the other person is saying before you respond. This will help avoid misunderstandings.
• Stay calm: It’s easy to blow up and lose your temper when you’re arguing with someone. But it’s especially important to stay calm in digital communication. Avoid sending nasty or abusive messages – this will only escalate the conflict.
• Stay empathetic: Be sensitive to the other person’s needs. Find out what he or she wants to know and focus your communication on that. Ask questions to get feedback and new ideas.
• Practice digital fitness daily: Practice digital fitness on a regular basis. Keep up with the latest developments in the digital world and try out new tools and apps. This will keep you fit for the challenges of digital communication.
• Personal Growth – Stay open to the world: Be open to criticism and suggestions. Take them seriously and rethink your own position. Be willing to change when it makes sense.

Remember: Change means finding solutions to problems.

4. Conclusion: AI opportunities harbor risks

All in all: AI in communication is one of the most important developments. It allows machines to have human conversations. This can be very useful for companies, for example by reducing the number of customer service representatives. AI in communication is also interesting for individuals, offering a new way to play with exchanges.

The outlook: In the future, it will continue to grow in importance and make many things possible that seem unimaginable today. However, AI in communications is not yet perfect. Nevertheless, AI in communications is already an exciting technology with a lot of potential. In the future, it will get even better and more people will be able to use it.

The most important thing? – People: But technology is only one side of the coin. The people, the users, also need to develop if they are to make effective use of the opportunities, whether privately or professionally. Technology is only a means to an end. It provides tools for practical applications and gives impetus to make current tasks more efficient and productive. But without human cognition, any technology remains soulless and interchangeable.

Prof. Dr. Gerald Lembke

Prof. Dr. Lembke is a thought leader for digital transformation in business and society. He programmed his first synthesizer when he was 12 years old in 1977. In 1992, he founded one of the first digital agencies in Germany. In 2004, he received his doctorate in economics and social sciences with the topic "Knowledge Cooperation". Today, he is the head of the Digital Media, Media Management and Communication program at the Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University in Mannheim. He is a technical and non-fiction author and accompanies the educational landscape in DACH, among other things, in political consulting (including Enquette Commission 2017-2018) on the topic of "digital education". He knows: "Digitization does not need big politics", because the really successful innovations arise without subsidies from the watering can. As a start-up entrepreneur (including KI TOOLPARTY) Prof. Lembke is convinced that everyone can digitalization. In his private life, he is the father of a 13-year-old daughter, a passionate musician and has been dedicated to progressive heavy metal since the age of 14.