Artificial intelligence has changed how we work with writing at Business Motion. Here is what it has made faster and what has not changed.
Artificial intelligence is changing the way we work with words. At Business Motion, we use it as well.
In this article, we are looking at AI through one part of our communication work: writing. Writing appears across many of the communication instruments we develop, from videos and company profiles to communication strategies and executive communication tools.
Our work is primarily for complex industries and organisations. The writing has a purpose: to explain, position, present evidence, communicate expertise, support business development, or help an audience understand something well enough to make a decision.
Before AI, the challenge was finding the right expertise
Writing for complex industries has never been simply a matter of putting information into good sentences. For a video, for example, the writer needs to understand the subject, the industry, the client's requirements, the audience and what the communication needs to accomplish. This was part of the reason why writing could take considerable time.
We sometimes worked with local writers and sometimes outsourced internationally. Finding the right person was not always straightforward because writers have different areas of expertise and different writing styles. For some projects, we would even work with several writers to develop different approaches to the same story.
The project manager remained responsible for the process. They understood the client's requirements and the content, then translated these into direction for the writer and reviewed the resulting work. The objective was not simply to produce well-written text. It was to make sure that the writing served the communication requirement.
Today, AI has changed this process. A project manager can gather the information, understand the client's requirements and use AI to develop an initial version of the writing. Instead of waiting for a writer to produce every iteration, the project manager can work through the material directly and refine it much faster. But faster does not mean automatic. We may still develop many versions before reaching the final copy. Sometimes there can be ten iterations. The difference is that AI has significantly reduced the time required to move between those iterations.
The same applies to strategic writing
The value of specialist writing becomes even clearer when we look beyond video. In 2022, we worked on a communication strategy for an NGO. At the time, AI was not part of our writing process. We worked with an experienced writer who understood the language and conventions of the international nonprofit sector.
That expertise mattered. Writing a communication strategy for an international nonprofit organisation requires more than knowing how to write. It requires an understanding of the sector, its terminology, its audiences and the way organisations in that environment communicate.
Today, AI can support parts of that process. It can help structure information, explore different ways of expressing an idea, refine language, or produce alternative versions. But someone still needs to understand whether the language is appropriate for the organisation, whether the strategic thinking has been represented correctly, and whether the result actually serves the intended audience. The technology has changed. The requirement for understanding has not.
Experience still directs the process
This is where our experience with AI has been particularly clear. The quality of the output depends considerably on the person directing the tool. A project manager needs to know what information to provide, what questions to ask, what context to establish and what constraints to set. They need to recognise when an answer sounds convincing but is not relevant, when an important insight has been missed, or when the writing has become generic.
They also need to know when not to use the output. This is especially important in communication for complex industries, where the audience may already understand the subject and may notice inaccuracies, unnecessary claims or language that does not belong to the industry.
AI can generate words very quickly. It does not automatically know which words matter. That still depends on the person who understands the objective, the client, the industry, the audience and the role of the communication instrument.
So, what has AI changed?
For us, AI has primarily changed the efficiency of the writing process. It can reduce the time spent developing first versions, exploring alternatives and making revisions. It allows the project manager to work more directly with the information and move through the writing process faster.
But it has not changed the fundamentals. We still start by understanding what is required. We still need to determine what information matters. We still need to understand the audience. And we still need experience to judge whether the final writing is right.
AI can make writing faster. Understanding still comes first.
At Business Motion, we work with complex industries where the audience is knowledgeable and the stakes of miscommunication are real. If you are working on a communication instrument that requires that kind of precision, reach out.