Last week, we gathered a group of communications leaders and managers in London for the Signal AI Exchange to discuss a reality we’re all facing: the gap between AI hype and real-world utility. While the world is busy chasing the latest LLM "unicorns," the conversation in the room was refreshingly grounded.
A huge thank you to our incredible panelists for sharing their expertise: Michael Maybury, Managing Director at Burson, Amy Drawbell, Senior Account Director, TEAM LEWIS, and Chris Blundell, Partner, Brunswick Group.
Here are the key takeaways from our panel on where AI is actually moving the needle for Comms leaders.
1. Core Skills are More Important, Not Less
As "AI slop" becomes the new baseline for content, the things that can’t be automated are becoming exponentially more valuable. Relationship skills and the human element of judgment aren't going anywhere. AI gives us the speed to produce content as easily as we once wrote press releases, but understanding the story lifecycle and who we are writing for remains a uniquely human skill.
2. Reputation Risk is Financial Risk
The panel addressed the common misconception that reputation risk is "overblown." In reality, reputation has a knock-on effect on every other business function. Panelists noted that reputation accounts for 1-5% of unexpected returns, which, for a global enterprise, can translate into billions of dollars. Relationship capital and reputation capital are the two most critical assets to invest in during volatile times.
3. Novelty vs. Optimization
Early movers in AI are currently focused on GEO, but we haven't reached the truly novel stage yet. This year, we expect to see "vibe coding" and one-off applications, unique UIs created instantly to solve a specific, temporary business problem. One of the most promising novel areas is synthetic data: using existing survey data to create real-time research simulations.
4. Competitor intelligence and the "FOMO" gap
There is a growing FOMO among leaders: What is everyone else doing? Am I missing something? Competitor intel is coming up more often, but we have to ask why we want it. Often, it’s just a way of offloading decision-making. Before diving into the data, you need to know what you're trying to solve.
5. Social is the early warning system
Mainstream media is often four weeks behind channels like 4chan or niche social threads. Social media monitoring isn't about the raw hose of data or bot-driven noise; it’s about identifying the key voices swaying the narrative, including the comments sections where risks often first rise before they materialize.
During the event, we also hosted a dedicated session with the audience to discuss the Signal AI 2026 roadmap. Our focus remains on creating a single source of truth that drives strategic foresight and clear ROI attribution.