Robots Tell Lousy Jokes: Using AI to Improve Your Communication Skills

The robots are here—but your communication skills will determine who thrives.

While it’s both tempting and terrifying to leave everything to our smart tech, one thing remains solidly in our court: the power of human connection.

And a big part of that? Strong communication skills.

Communication Skills Matter More Than Ever

AI can automate and analyze a lot, but it can’t replace those human touches that bring meaning and connection to our work.?

I once heard someone say that AI can describe a strawberry, but it can’t tell you how a strawberry tastes.?

I love this as an example of no matter how good AI gets, human skills will always be needed. ?Human interpretation of nuance, emotion, and experience is key.

When we pair human-centered communication with AI support, it’s what’s called augmented intelligence, and it gets really good.

Remember taking a calculator to math class for the first time?? It did the calculation, but you had to tell it what to calculate. That’s augmented intelligence.??

Similarly, AI can be a communication partner—but it can’t take the lead. No algorithm understands the nuances of personal connection, empathy, or reading the room quite like we do.

Have you ever read an AI-generated poem? Or a joke?? They’re TERRIBLE….

(Yikes!)

So here’s the takeaway:

You can use AI as a tool to sharpen your communication. At the same time, the better we communicate, the more we’ll get out of AI as a tool.?

It’s a virtuous cycle.

Using AI to Elevate Your Communication Skills

Here are three ways I challenge my clients to use AI to elevate their communication skills.?

1. Writing with AI - Your New Thought Partner

If you use Grammarly, you’re already in the AI world.? Take it one step further and try ChatGPT, Jasper, or Claude.?

Think of AI as your thought partner. Specifically, I encourage you to use AI to help you:

• Outline a document (a speech, a podcast episode, a newsletter!)
• Brainstorm ideas or lists
• Create a summary description
• Write a draft
• Change the tone of a draft?
• Write a catchy title

Yes, I do the same myself.

In fact, I used ChatGPT to help me write this newsletter! I would give the original AI-generated draft a “B” or a “B-”.?

Sure, part of the issue is my prompts. But it is absolutely critical that we add the human touch to our AI-generated copy.? This is about tone, clarity, and mostly quality control.

Remember, you’ll always be the best editor for your message. Use AI as a thought-partner. Keep your authentic, human voice at the forefront.?

2. AI-Driven Meeting Summaries - More effective meetings

This is a game-changer!

Apps like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Otter.ai give you the play-by-play and summaries with key takeaways.?

There are so many benefits of AI meeting transcriptions and summaries.?

• Meeting attendees may feel more engaged, knowing they don’t need to take notes.
• People may be more likely to focus and stay on-track when they know their comments are being transcribed and summarized. (Love this unanticipated benefit!)
• Everyone receives the same take-aways. If you have to miss a meeting, you can still find out exactly what happened. (It’s the closest thing we’ve got to cloning yourself!)

Two things to watch out for:

• Permission - Make sure everyone in attendance gives permission for their comments to be recorded and summarized.
• Quality Control - see above. Every time I summarize a coaching session using AI, it’s mostly A-OK, but there are always 1-2 glaring mistakes that need to be edited.

3. Video Feedback for Self-Improvement - See Yourself as Others Do

I’ve talked about this quite a bit with clients and even here on LinkedIn.? The BEST way to improve your presentation style is to WATCH your presentation style.

It’s uncomfortable but eye-opening.

If you want a neutral 3rd-party voice, you could use video analytics tools like Yoodli.ai to get insights into things like tone, body language, filler words, and engagement levels.

To make the most of this:

• Review your presentations and meetings for continuous improvement - either by yourself or with a coach.
• Watch for what you're doing well! Many folks focus on their weaknesses. Track your progress over time, specifically watching for your strengths and areas for improvement.

Thinking about AI as augmented intelligence and a thought partner can help you improve your communication skills.?

I encourage you to jump on to this virtuous cycle of using AI to sharpen your communication, and your improved communication skills to get the most out of AI.??

So comedians can get ideas for their jokes from AI, but they’ll only get better as they continue to improve their craft.? In writing this newsletter, I know AI provided some ideas I might not have considered. Then I used my communication skills to step it up a notch.?

Homework:

This week, I encourage you to try one AI-assisted task from my suggestions above:

1. Write with AI - Your New Thought Partner

• outline a document?
• brainstorm ideas?
• create a summary description
• write a draft
• change the tone of a draft?
• write a catchy title

2. Use AI-Driven Meeting Summaries

3. Use AI-Generated Video Feedback for Self-Improvement

Talk soon,

Andrea

Dr. Andrea Wojnicki is a Harvard-educated executive communication coach. She founded "Talk About Talk" to help ambitious executives communicate with confidence and clarity by focusing on topics such as personal branding, overcoming imposter syndrome, listening, demonstrating leadership, and formal presentation skills.? Andrea provides 1:1 coaching, workshops, keynote speeches, and online courses. She also shares her thought leadership as a columnist at Inc. magazine and she hosts the Talk About Talk podcast, with over 175 episodes and counting.