When you drop a pebble in water, the resulting ripples spread in all directions. The introduction of AI into medical communications is more attuned to a massive underwater eruption, but the waves created similarly spread in all directions and touch every part of our work.

For me, it’s not so much the technology itself that is interesting, but those waves and their impact in terms of the possibilities they are creating and the paradigm shifts they are causing. One thing is sure, we need to surf those waves, not just let them break over us.

We are already seeing how AI is reshaping the way people work. The positive view here is that in many areas it is lifting the weight of repetitive or frustratingly time-consuming tasks and providing the space for deeper thinking. This means the very nature of many of our traditional healthcare communications roles are changing.

Take the development of scientific content. Historically, early stages of writing might be considered laborious, junior-heavy and largely mechanical. This might involve assembling drafts, aligning references or just getting something onto the page as a starting point that others could then refine. More experienced writers would step in to apply experience-derived judgement, sharpen messaging and ensure scientific integrity. The centre of gravity has now shifted. With AI handling much of the initial drafting, in practice junior writers are being asked to engage earlier with the kind of thinking that was perhaps once the preserve of more senior colleagues.

They are not now so much producing copy as they are interrogating it, challenging assumptions and refining it with a sharper editorial lens from the outset. It’s a subtle but profound change: the ‘senior’ skill set is no longer something you can grow into slowly, but something you’re expected to exercise much sooner. And that raises the challenge of how we instil that understanding without the benefit of the practical experiences gained over time?

This also has interesting implications for how teams are structured. We’ve grown used to thinking of expertise as a kind of pyramid, broad at the base, narrow at the top, with experience accumulating steadily as you move upward. But what’s beginning to emerge feels closer to a diamond. There is still a need for experienced oversight at the top, but the middle is expanding with more individuals needing to be operating with higher-level skills, capable of critical thinking, synthesis and review. Beneath that, the purely task-oriented layers are thinning as AI takes hold.

It’s not hard to understand why. If the routine aspects of first drafts can be accelerated or even largely automated, then the differentiator becomes judgement. Knowing what will resonate, what is or isn’t ethical or compliant, what will stand up to scrutiny and what tells the most appealing story.

Similar dynamics are playing out beyond writing. The way data and insights are gathered and interpreted has changed dramatically. Where we might have once spent weeks combing through literature to identify what was relevant, or trawling through a conference abstract book to decide what session to attend, key themes can now be identified in minutes, if not seconds. Unstructured data is also easier to interrogate to identify patterns and perception shifts. The bottleneck is no longer access to information, but interpretation of it. Again, with the emphasis shifting from accumulation to analysis.

Information delivery is similarly impacted. Engagement with healthcare professionals can be more tailored, more attentive to individual context and need. That and the need for rapid delivery puts additional pressure on those creating and curating. How education is delivered is being enhanced, with simulations, avatars and interactive learning environments as examples of how HCPs and patients are being engaged more comprehensively.

Of course, the healthcare environment is highly regulated. The introduction of AI into these workflows raises important questions about governance, transparency and trust. Systems must be auditable and it is not enough for outputs to be efficient; they must also be compliant. AI is having an increasing role here as well, helping deliver ‘pre-flight checks’, delivering a more streamlined review process. However, senior human oversight remains the final arbiter.

And this brings us back to the human dimension. Tools are evolving quickly, but people must evolve with them. The ability to review, interpret and elevate AI-generated content is becoming a foundational skill that needs to be distributed more widely across teams, not stay concentrated in a few senior roles. Training and development, therefore, can no longer follow traditional timelines. Organisations need to find ways to equip individuals earlier with a level of judgement and confidence that is needed now, rather than later.

Read more about how AI is being utilised across healthcare communications in AI Unleashed available at the-hca.org/AI

Mike Dixon is CEO of the Healthcare Communications Association and a communications consultant