Arbetsformer, kompetens och yrkesroll – vad händer med strategisk kommunikation när artificiell intelligens tar plats i arbetet?

Sammanfattning

This study examines how communication professionals use artificial intelligence (AI) in their daily work and how this relates to shifting competence requirements and the renegotiation of professional roles. Rather than treating AI solely as a tool for efficiency gains, the study conceptualises its use as a potential reconfiguration of strategic communication as a professional practice. The analysis draws on qualitative interviews with communication professionals across public and private sector organisations, and is interpreted through the lenses of strategic communication theory and professional theory. The findings show that AI is increasingly integrated into everyday work practices, spanning operational, tactical, and strategic activities, with a particular emphasis on content production and information processing. At the same time, AI enables more immediate feedback loops between production, analysis and reflection, contributing to a more continuous and practice-based form of strategic work. The study further demonstrates that while few competencies disappear, their relative importance shifts. Professional judgement, problem formulation, and audience understanding become more central, whereas the value of certain operational skills diminishes. Consequently, the role of communication professionals shifts from content production towards evaluation, coordination, and responsibility. Drawing on Abbott’s theory of professions, the study shows that AI does not diminish professional jurisdiction, but rather contributes to its renegotiation, as control moves towards abstract, context-sensitive knowledge and judgement. The study thus advances understanding of how AI reshapes both strategic communication and professional practice.