A.I. as an Amplifier
There’s a growing temptation with AI, one that feels efficient and even productive: let the machine do it. In seconds, you have something tangible and complete.
Draft the message
Build the outline
Write the proposal
Create the content
From our experience many people begin their communication by opening their AI tool instead of taking a step back to complete the first step in The Latimer Communication Mode: Assessing their opportunity. This is exactly where the risk begins, not because AI is flawed, but because it lacks human discernment.
AI doesn’t create from understanding; it creates from patterns. It identifies what typically works and produces something that aligns. That’s what makes it efficient but also limited. It lacks awareness of your audience or situation, institutional knowledge, or the consequences of getting it wrong. It can generate something that sounds right without knowing if it is right and because the output often sounds polished, it’s easy to mistake output for accuracy.
That’s why AI is best positioned to be an amplifier. It amplifies the clarity of your thinking, the quality of your input, and the assumptions behind your request. To enhance your work, incorporate AI into your process, don’t make it your process. Since AI produces something unusable, many we stop there. We review less carefully, question less rigorously, and assume it’s “got it.” That’s where human discernment starts to fade, and with it, the quality of communication.
Using AI well doesn’t mean doing less; it should mean taking greater ownership of what’s produced. That ownership shows up in how we:
Evaluate whether the output truly answers the question
Refine it for the specific audience and context
Challenge what may be missing or assumed
Decide what should and should not be communicated
These are not small steps, they are what ensures the message is effective, not just efficient. AI can accelerate the start of the process, but it cannot finish it. The clarity, judgment, and awareness required to ensure something actually lands still belongs to you.
When you stay engaged, AI strengthens your communication. When you step away, it weakens it.
Kendra E. Raguckas, Managing Director
