How AI Is Shaping Higher Ed Communications

The industrial revolution’s impact on farming offers a useful frame for thinking about how AI is reshaping communications opportunities in higher education. Manual laborers used to pick the crops. Then the tractor came along. Many of these individuals shifted their work focus to operating and managing machines.

Similarly, higher education communications requires a new kind of thinking and approach. AI is moving fast, touching every corner of the institution and creating communications opportunities that did not exist before.

Central to seizing those opportunities is how institutions communicate their AI initiatives, policies and culture to internal audiences who have varying opinions about AI. An engaging website is a useful starting point. Using Google’s deep research tool, I did an analysis of the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings and found that 86 percent of top-ranked U.S. universities have a dedicated AI website.

The quality and depth of content on these websites vary significantly. Some serve primarily as repositories for policies, but WashU and Duke’s AI websites go beyond portraying top-down rules. Both institutions use clear language while providing practical tools and resources. Users are invited to contribute their experience, which frames AI as a shared, evolving institutional capability shaped by the community.

Universities must communicate a clear message: AI should be used responsibly, even as its application varies across contexts. According to Andrew Park, assistant vice provost for academic communications, Duke provides broad access to AI tools, models and training so individuals can learn and make informed decisions.

Communication must also evolve in a fast-changing space.

“The right policies for the fall of 2025, before the growth of Claude Code, for example, would be different from the right policies today,” said Peter Boumgarden, Koch Family Professor of Practice in Family Enterprise at Washington University in St. Louis. “It is important for universities to set up appropriate governance structures and acknowledge that any institutional design is likely going to evolve at a more regular cadence than many of us are used to.”

Communicating AI effectively requires expertise that many institutional leaders simply don’t have. This is among the factors that has led to the recent rise in universities hiring dedicated AI communications strategists.

Duke established a dedicated AI communications role, with Alainna Liloia helping shape the institution’s voice on AI and overseeing a variety of digital channels that have seen strong engagement. Alainna’s ability to use the work of communicators in Duke’s schools and units has been instrumental in aligning different perspectives across campus, according to Park.

Communicators who don’t have “AI” in their job title have a critical new role to play: equipping colleagues with the ability to develop their own communications strategies with AI.

Traditionally, only the very top levels of the university hierarchy, like the president, would have their own dedicated communications assistant. Now, any university member can be supported by AI-enabled communications assistants that carry out a range of tasks such as drafting content, supporting visuals, monitoring media coverage, repurposing materials across channels and generating audience-specific messaging. These assistants can support schools, departments, initiatives and individuals.

Their effectiveness, however, depends entirely on the quality of the instructions, source materials and prompts behind them. The foundation of such systems is a solid communications strategy.

This is where experienced communicators come in: helping people determine clear goals, identify appropriate audiences and define key messages, using a tone and language that will resonate. It also involves teaching by providing colleagues a working understanding of available channels and how AI can provide ongoing support (such as scheduled tasks, content calendars and automated distribution workflows).

I recently worked through this process with a professor. We talked through a structured set of questions to gain clarity around his expertise, core audiences, key messages and desired brand attributes. Based on these conversations and specific prompts, AI drafted a full communications strategy. We never treated that draft as the final word. We brought our own perspectives and judgment to refine it, ensuring the strategy reflected his voice and priorities.

From there, we brainstormed the communications levers available to him and the specific ways AI could support each one. One activity, for example, involved taking his written articles and generating LinkedIn content from them—a process streamlined through a dedicated project. Another, tied to his goal of securing speaking engagements, involved a scheduled task of conducting research on individuals to reach out to.

The final product includes a communications strategy and a set of instructions copied into his AI project. It has provided clarity and a pathway to delivering on stated goals. Just as importantly, he has gained valuable communications skills and an understanding on how to use AI on an ongoing basis to save time and extend the reach of his work.

Imagine all members of the president’s cabinet—deans, professors and all key institutional leaders—taking advantage of such a system. Just as the tractor transformed what a single farmer could harvest, AI can amplify what every person is capable of, with each working from their own unique strategy to move the needle on their individual and institutional objectives.

The challenge isn’t simply adopting the technology; it’s helping people use it strategically. Human communications strategists can be at the center of making it all work.