The professionals who thrive in an AI-driven world won't be the ones who use it most, but the ones who challenge it best
I am a jumble of feelings - envy, resentment, admiration but mostly anxiety when one of my colleagues showed off a clever campaign idea. And then tells me that he spent but minutes to come up with it using AI.
As someone who is not too tech-savvy my first thoughts are that my future is cooked as it would go to those who can wield AI best like Mr. Tech Savvy.
I am not alone. In fact, according to a recent survey led by consultant firm BCG almost four out of five (78%) working Indonesians said they feared losing their jobs to AI.
But being a Maverick, we’ve been trained that when faced with adversity we double down on trying to understand the challenge and then figure out how to overcome it.
I mugged up on AI, specifically on LLMs, and discovered that much of my anxiety was caused by a misperception of AI and how best to make it work to your advantage.
AI Isn't Your Replacement. It's Your Sparring Partner
Most of us use AI the way we use a search engine: ask a question, get an answer, and move on. Until recently, like most people, that’s all I was doing — and missing its full potential of AI can help us.
I found that the most valuable capability of AI is to act as a sounding board and sparring partner. AI’s really good at challenging my thinking, sharpening my ideas and thereby improving the quality of my work.
It’s a lot Tui Shou or Push Hands in Taiji where the objective is not winning but cultivating and refining your technique in a safe space. Where AI is concerned it’s a space where I can test ideas, refine my messaging, and spot gaps without the pressure of a real client or team setting.
So, what does actually arguing with AI look like? Here's what we can do
Throw Your Messiest Ideas, Then Push Back
One thing I’ve learned is that AI is a judgment-free zone. In client meetings or team brainstorms, ideas get filtered before they even leave the room, shaped by deadlines and the unspoken pressure to sound polished. With AI, that pressure disappears. Throw in the half-baked campaign angles, the contrarian takes, the ideas that feel too rough to say out loud. Just to see where they go.
And when the output feels too safe or generic (which it often does), push back. Ask it to argue the opposite, rewrite for a skeptical audience, or take a stronger stance. That friction is where things get interesting, and where thinking gets sharper.
Ask It to "Stress-Test" Your Narrative
Before presenting an idea to whoever it is, run it through AI and ask: What would a skeptical journalist say about these claims? or What’s missing from this narrative? You might get uncomfortable answers, but that's exactly what you need.
Iterate Until It Actually Feels Right
I used to think the first output was already “good enough.” It’s not. Now I treat it more like a first draft from a smart but still-learning team member, there’s potential but it needs direction. So, I keep what works, tweak what doesn’t, and go back and forth a few times. That’s usually where things start to click, and where my own judgment really comes in.
Bring the Context AI Doesn’t Have
One thing I’ve noticed is that AI is great with patterns, but it doesn’t know the backstory. It doesn’t know your client’s relationship with certain media or how a message might land differently depending on the audience or market. That nuance is still on us, and the more I spell that out in the prompt, the more the output actually makes sense.
Still, to make sure that your output doesn’t sound like every other AI-generated copy you need to practice what some AI experts call Discernment. An ability to judge which parts of AI sound true and which parts of AI is merely an echo of a pattern.
If you are able to do this then the output is yours, with the help of AI. If you aren’t then what you have is a Frankenstein output created by AI.
The Real Fear Isn’t Losing Your Job. It’s Losing Your Voice
This is the part that feels more unsettling than anything else.
When everything starts to sound the same, when audiences can sense that something was generated rather than thoughtfully crafted, that’s when trust starts to slip. And in PR, once trust is compromised, everything else follows.
The Edelman Trust Barometer shows that people are becoming increasingly skeptical of generic content. Trust is the foundation of PR, and in a world of automated noise, your authenticity is what sets you apart.
AI can help generate content, but it can’t build trust. Only you can do that by maintaining a genuine, human connection with your audience.
The Map is Not the Destination
I’ve realized I don’t need to change the way I work overnight, and neither do you. I started small: one brief, one stress-test, one afternoon pushing back on a generic prompt.
What I’ve learned is that AI is a map. It can show patterns, routes, and possibilities, but it doesn’t know where you want to go or why that destination matters. That part is still on us.
Our judgment, our relationships, and our ability to read the room are the compass. AI can show us what exists, but only we can decide what matters.
Let’s stop being afraid of AI and get busy steering it instead.
