How AI helped PwC’s Megan DiSciullo make her communication process more efficient

The rise of generative AI has spurred major discussions and reconsiderations about its capabilities and role in comms workflows. It can help comms pros draft copy, take on rote entry tasks, ideate on content, and much more.

In our latest edition of our new “How AI Helped Me” series, we spoke with Megan DiSciullo,  senior managing director of US and Mexico communications at PWC about how she came to use AI, its impacts on her work, and more.

Sean Devlin: Could you tell us a little about how you first started interacting with AI in your role at PwC, and how it’s evolved?

Megan DiSciullo: I had exposure to AI here and there, but my journey with AI took off when PwC US made its $1 billion investment in AI last April. My team and I initially explored GenAI for routine tasks like drafting and proofreading, quickly realizing the potential AI tools had to revolutionize our communications strategy and day-to-day operations.

Over time, GenAI has enabled us to deliver personalized and impactful communications at scale, from planning and content generation to rigorous self-review. It’s helping us connect with our audiences in more meaningful ways.

When you first started using AI, how did you educate yourself on how to use it?

MDS: I think the best way to learn AI is by using it, so I started by experimenting with our different AI tools and testing different prompts with my real work, to see how AI could fit into my existing workflows.

Beyond hands-on learning, I am constantly learning from other leaders, specialists in the industry, and members of my team about what works well, what doesn’t, and new use cases they’ve uncovered.

One key aspect of our approach to AI at PwC has been upskilling our entire team, making sure that everyone understands not just how to use AI, but how to do so responsibly. This ongoing learning journey has been critical in helping all of us increase the benefits of AI, while also decreasing potential risks.

How exactly does AI factor into your role at PwC?

MDS: AI plays a central role in my work at PwC, especially as we continue to innovate our communications strategies.

We’ve co-developed a suite of GenAI applications in-house that are tailored to the specific needs of our communicators and have integrated them seamlessly within our existing tech stack. These tools enable us to manage the entire communications lifecycle; from strategy formulation with our GenAI project planner to content creation to a reviewer tool.

By integrating AI into the different steps of the process, we can produce personalized, quality communications more efficiently, allowing us to focus more time on strategic needs.

Have you seen any changes to your workflow or customer/stakeholder satisfaction since you’ve begun using AI and automation?

MDS: Definitely! I’ve seen improvements in efficiency, creativity, and quality. It’s also helped to streamline many of our processes, like reducing the time needed to create, review, and scale content.

For example, our content generator tool creates initial drafts, giving us a place to work from, which allows us to produce content faster and with greater consistency.

What’s something about AI that you think communicators need to be talking about but aren’t discussing enough?

MDS: As communicators, we often work with sensitive and non-public information. It’s therefore critical that we use secure AI tools instead of open-source tools to protect company data and client confidentiality. At PwC, we’ve created many secure AI tools that allow us to produce communications for our stakeholders, while also safeguarding confidential data and information.

If you are on a communications team that isn’t leveraging secure AI tools yet, I encourage you to advocate for them to mitigate reputational and business risk. All of this is tied to responsible AI use too, which is so important!

Do you have a big prediction for AI usage in the next few years?

MDS: I believe that AI will likely become an even more integral part of the communications function, with the potential to evolve from a support tool to a co-creator. As AI continues to advance, I could see it taking on a more proactive role in strategy development, suggesting communication approaches based on predictive analytics and real-time data.

I also think the demand for transparency in AI will continue to grow, leading to the development of systems that not only execute tasks but also provide insights into their decision-making processes.

This shift will help empower communicators to leverage AI more effectively while maintaining the trust and integrity that are foundational to our profession.

To learn more about the practical uses of AI in comms, register for our AI for Communicators Virtual Conference, which takes place on September 19.