Prompt of the Week: The AI Adoption Translator

Hi Reader,

Here's a stat that should make every comms leader pause:

88% of communications leaders say they're not prepared to lead an AI transformation inside their company.

Not 88% of junior staffers. Not 88% of interns. The leaders.

And yet, CEOs keep shipping AI-forward memos to the board, investors, and the press. "We're all-in on AI." "AI is core to our strategy." "We're leading the AI transformation."

Meanwhile, employees are reading those headlines and thinking: What does this mean for my job?

That gap — between what leadership says externally and what employees actually experience internally — is becoming one of the biggest communications challenges of the year. Eleanor Hawkins at Axios nailed it this week: it's not a technology problem. It's a messaging problem.

And that means it's our problem.

👇🏽 Here's the prompt:

Prompt of the Week

🎯 Expert Mode: The "AI Adoption Translator"

Scenario: Your CEO just approved a company-wide AI rollout and the messaging to investors sounds great. But your internal comms haven't caught up — employees are anxious, managers don't know how to answer questions, and the all-hands is next week.

Instructions:

1️⃣ Copy your CEO's external AI strategy statement (earnings call quote, press release, investor letter — whatever exists) and paste it into the prompt below.

2️⃣ Run this prompt:

"I'm a communications leader at [company type/industry]. Here is our CEO's external AI strategy statement: [paste statement]. I need you to translate this into three internal communications assets:

1. An all-hands email (300 words max) that acknowledges employee concerns about AI — job security, role changes, and pace of change — while reframing AI adoption as a career development opportunity, not a threat.

2. A manager talking points doc (5-7 bullet points) that equips people managers to answer the most common employee questions about AI in their next team meeting.

3. An internal FAQ (8-10 questions) covering: What AI tools are we adopting? Will this affect headcount? What training is available? How do I get started? What's the timeline?

For all three, use a tone that is transparent, empathetic, and specific. Avoid corporate jargon. Where information is unknown, flag it as '[To be confirmed by leadership]' rather than leaving it vague."

3️⃣ Review the outputs. The all-hands email should feel like it came from a human, not a policy document. If it reads like legal copy, ask the AI to "rewrite this in the voice of a thoughtful leader who genuinely cares about their team's growth."

4️⃣ Customize the FAQ with your company's actual details — tool names, timelines, training programs. The AI gives you the skeleton; you add the specifics.

5️⃣ Share the manager talking points with your HR or people team for alignment before distributing. This is where most internal AI messaging breaks down — managers saying different things on different floors.

Suggested Tools: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini

Why You'll Love It:

It closes the say-do gap. Your CEO is already talking about AI externally — this ensures the internal narrative catches up before employees fill the void with rumors.
It gives managers a lifeline. Most people managers aren't equipped to field AI questions from their teams. This prompt hands them a cheat sheet they'll actually use.
It takes 15 minutes, not 15 meetings. Instead of running a cross-functional working group to draft internal messaging, you get a first draft you can refine in one sitting.

The companies winning at AI adoption right now aren't the ones with the best technology. They're the ones with the best internal storytelling. This prompt helps you write that story.

Talk soon, Chris

Here are a few articles from the past week to help keep you up to speed:

Google I/O 2026: How the AI search update changes SEO and brand visibility
Launchcodex / Google Blog May 19, 2026 Google's biggest I/O announcement for PR pros: AI Mode has surpassed one billion monthly users, and brands cited inside AI answers earn 35% more organic clicks and 91% more paid clicks than non-cited competitors on the same query. For communicators, the metric is shifting — it's no longer about ranking, it's about being named.
AI backlash becomes a real business risk
Axios May 17, 2026 New polling shows consumer excitement about AI has dropped from 50% to 19% in just two years — and 54% of Americans say they're experiencing AI fatigue. For brand communicators, this is a strategic warning: how you talk about AI is now a reputational variable, and audiences are increasingly punishing companies that feel AI-heavy or tone-deaf.
How AI Has Changed the Rules for Content Creation
O'Dwyer's PR News May 15, 2026 Content is no longer scarce — credibility is. This sharp piece argues that AI floods channels with volume while real scarcity shifts to verifiable, consistently sourced, human-edited information. The communications teams that win will be those applying editorial judgment, not just output speed.
The State of AI Regulation for Brands: May 2026
EPR / PR News May 2026 A national brand campaign now crosses at least five different state AI compliance regimes. This deep-dive maps the patchwork — including New York's synthetic performer disclosure rules effective June 2026 and the EU AI Act's accelerated disclosure deadline of December 2, 2026. The strategic case: build to the strictest standard now, and roll it down.
2026 Report: Confidence Gap Hinders AI in Communications
Tech Intel Pro May 2026 Communicators rate AI as urgent (7.4/10) and valuable (8.1/10) — but their confidence in actually using it effectively lands at just 4.2/10. Access to tools isn't the bottleneck. Belief is. Worth sharing with your CMO when making the case for dedicated AI practice time.