What you missed — and what communicators need to know.
AI is no longer an abstract concept for communicators. It’s an every day tool they are tasked with both learning professionally and operationalizing across their organization.
These were the twin concepts championed during Ragan’s second AI Horizons Conference, held this week in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Beside the chilly but beautiful Atlantic Ocean, hundreds of communicators gathered to chart a course forward through the possibilities and challenges of artificial intelligence.
From big-picture strategy for system-wide adoption to tips on not getting banned from Reddit in a quest for GEO supremacy, these are some of the biggest takeaway from the conference.
Want more still? Become a member of Ragan’s Center for AI Strategy.
Charlene Li, founder, Quantum Networks Group
Most organizations don’t struggle with AI because the tools don’t work. They struggle because leaders hesitate to commit, communicate clearly and guide people through change.
Michelle Bauer, chief communications officer, The Chemours Co.
An environment based on psychological safety creates trust around AI platforms so people feel safe experimenting, failing and learning with AI. Without that element, adoption stalls no matter how good the tech is.
Christine de Valle, director of internal communications, marketing and communications, Baptist Health South Florida
AI fluency grows through shared experimentation. Creating spaces to share use cases among colleagues helps build confidence in AI skills.
Brenden Lee, director of corporate communications, Yahoo
They gave people a whole day to play with AI and discover how it could be applicable. Time is an important investment.
Martin Waxman, adviser, Ragan’s Center for AI Strategy, and adjunct professor, York University Schulich School of Business
Build actual relationships with IT. Don’t just ask for your password reset — understand what you have access to so they can help boost your AI capabilities.
Alex Sévigny, adviser, Ragan’s Center for AI Strategy, and associate professor of communications management and AI and data trainer, McMaster University
Train processes and workflows, not prompting.
Chris Gee, adviser, Ragan’s Center for AI Strategy, and CEO and founder, Chris Gee Consulting
AI agents don’t replace jobs as much as they replace specific tasks. He told us that AI agents are positioned to help offload repetitive tasks so human beings can focus on the big things that require human judgment.
Sarah Whitty, internal communications manager, Strategy Hub, Google DeepMind
Consider the 80/20 rule for internal communications. AI can get you most of the way there, but internal communicators add the final strategy and emotional and political layers. You need those before any message goes out.
Michael A. Cousin, communications specialist, internal communications, Idaho National Laboratory
When you have employees with roles that range from bus drivers to nuclear scientists, you need to create personas that reflect those differences. Doing that helps ensure that your AI platforms can refine messages in a way that will grab their attention.
Stephanie Nivinskus, CEO, SizzleForce Marketing
Put yourself in the shoes of a film director when you’re prompting for AI videos. “When you structure prompts like a director, you’re not just making better videos,” Nivinskus told the audience. “You’re protecting brand trust, reducing risk and creating content that people actually want to watch.”
Steve Van Dinter, senior director of communications, Verizon
AI video is accelerating too fast for communicators to ignore. He encouraged experimenting now because the tools are ready for business use.
Jenna Galbreath, senior vice president of strategy, insights and analytics, Golin
Reddit is important to GEO, but it’s a long game. If you go on there and are overly promotional, you’ll get banned. It happened to Golin. Be helpful, not promotional. Start seeding useful content now. From the preconference.
Will Hodges, technology communications leader, PwC
GEO is just a return to the brilliant basics of PR. It’s not complicated — it’s just new.
Marcel Williams, head of culture and engagement, Humana Military
To prevent bias-related AI incidents, check both the inputs used to train large language models and the outputs they produce. Without attention on both ends, things can get messy fast.
Rowan Toffoli, adviser, Ragan’s Center for AI Strategy, and innovation and technology communications manager and GenAI lead, Lockheed Martin
AI is about more than just efficiency. It’s about making us better.
The post Top Takeaways from Ragan’s AI Horizons Conference 2026 appeared first on PR Daily.
