Technology Literacy Skills for Modern Communicators

“You love writing, right?”

That’s what an executive asked me in an interview once.

Writing has long been the cornerstone skill for communicators. In many ways, it still is. A blank page is a scary thing, and the ability to fill it well has always set great communicators apart. 

Here’s the truth: I don’t love writing.  

I know — that’s borderline blasphemy in our profession. 

What I do love is what writing can do: Connect people, spark ideas, inspire change and create impact. It can shape brands, shift markets and turn audiences into advocates. 

So maybe I do love writing... when it has a purpose.

Writing is the most visible proof of our value. It’s the tangible outcome of often invisible skills: connecting dots, translating complexity, simplifying technical concepts and creating clarity from ambiguity. 

But now, with the rise of AI, a new core competence is emerging — one that may soon rival, or even eclipse, writing itself: technology literacy.

Why technology literacy matters now more than ever

AI is not replacing communicators. It’s expanding what’s possible — but only if we know how to use it. 

According to Microsoft’s 2025 Work Trend Index Report, 51% of managers say AI training or upskilling will become a key responsibility for their teams within five years. Meanwhile, the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Future of Jobs report from the World Economic Forum ranks AI and big data literacy among the fastest-growing skill demands.

In short, understanding how to use AI isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s the new baseline. As such, we are experiencing a fundamental shift in skilling.  

As someone who uses AI platforms every day (sometimes every hour!), here are the top three ways I’m tapping into this technology right now in my work.

AI as a co-creator

For many, the blank page remains intimidating. But today, I rarely start with one.

AI has become my most trusted brainstorming partner, helping me turn scattered thoughts into focused direction. It also takes on manual, time-consuming tasks like data analysis that once stalled my progress, clearing the way for deeper, more strategic work.

A strategist once told me they spend 98% of their time on non-strategic tasks. That’s where AI’s real potential comes into play. By handling the tactical, lower-value work, it gives us back our time and the headspace to focus on what matters most.

AI as a scale engine

I’ve always loved building programs from the ground up. But scaling them? That was the hard part, especially when content creation became a bottleneck.

Now, I can take a single idea, feed it into an AI tool and instantly generate a comprehensive ecosystem of opportunities, including key messages, content formats and delivery channels. What used to take days of research, drafting and review now happens in minutes.

AI as an accelerant

One of my company’s principles is “Play to Win,” which means executing with both quality and urgency. So, when I started a new role, I needed to ramp up fast. 

To understand a new executive’s voice, I compiled their public content — social posts, interviews, transcripts — and ran it through AI. In minutes, I had a clear sense of their tone, priorities and language patterns.

Likewise, when developing technical content, hours of back-and-forth with subject matter experts condensed into just minutes of AI-assisted context building.

The shift: From writers to system thinkers

AI is evolving rapidly, and emerging technologies like quantum computing are just around the corner. The role of the communicator is growing along with them.

We still tell stories, shape messages and build trust, but we’re also becoming system designers, insight translators and tech-literate problem solvers.

With AI, everyone can write better. So, the skill that sets communicators apart is no longer how well we craft a sentence, but how strategically we use the tools available to us. We’re shifting from mastering words to mastering systems.

And with that shift, a new kind of communicator is emerging — one who learns faster, scales smarter and leads sooner.

Your first steps toward AI fluency 

Want to build your AI skills? Start with what’s free and accessible — follow AI Top Voices on LinkedIn, subscribe to newsletters, take intro courses on Coursera, or join training through your company or PRSA. Most important, start using the tools. The best way to learn is by doing. Stay curious, experiment often and keep learning.