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Generative AI adoption is a strategic priority for most organizations today, but it's tricky business. Not only does AI adoption present technological challenges, but it also presents myriad challenges to a company’s executives and its wider change initiatives as well.
As it turns out, communicators are uniquely positioned to drive this transformation, and are often among the earliest AI adopters within an organization, according to a survey of communications and tech leaders by the Institute for Public Relations.
The IPR study found that while IT teams are typically the earliest drivers of generative AI adoption, communicators similarly play a vital role in serving as translators between technical teams and the broader organization.
When it comes to why organizations are adopting AI technology today, 90 percent of respondents cited “productivity” and/or “efficiency” as the top reasons. Other reasons for AI adoption included innovation (77 percent) and insights and reports (70 percent). This was followed by a desire to improve the customer experience (67 percent) and executive leadership making it a priority (57 percent).
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| Top drivers of AI adoption in organizations. |
Accuracy/misinformation and ethics remain top concerns for AI adoption, according to the study, as well as cybersecurity, regulatory compliance and the possibility of organizations developing an overreliance on the technology. For this reason, respondents said that people must remain “in the loop” during this process, particularly when it comes to review, judgment, brand voice and final decisions. AI outputs, meanwhile, should be used primarily to support first drafts and ideation.
When it comes to how AI is adopted in the workplace, the study found that most organizations typically move along a path from tactical adoption (applying AI to isolated tasks such as drafting or summarizing tasks), strategic implementation (AI being deployed across multiple functions with defined workflows) and transformational integration (embedding AI into enterprise-wide processes).
The study also found that establishing cohesive narratives for AI adoption isn’t common. Only slightly more than a third (37 percent) said their organization has communicated a change story for AI transformation.
IPR’s study, “The Communicator’s Role in Driving Generative AI Adoption,” was based on emailed interviews with more than thirty senior communication and technology leaders between August and October 2025. All participants reported being responsible for AI strategy at their organization and hold mid- to senior-level positions at agencies, corporations or academic institutions ranging in the healthcare, financial services, technology, government/policy, measurement/analytics, nonprofit/NGO and telecommunications industries. The study was sponsored by New York Life.
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