The changing power dynamic for CCOs
As AI reshapes how business value is measured, comms leaders can step forward as strategic owners or risk being sidelined. Here’s where to start.
The most consequential question facing chief communications officers is not whether to experiment with artificial intelligence. It is whether they’re prepared to lead it. Many are hesitating, and Brian Buchwald understands why.
“Communications has historically been last in line for technology investment,” said Buchwald, president of global transformation and performance at Edelman. “When you’re underfunded for years, you do not build institutional confidence around data and systems. That creates caution.”
For decades, communications functions have been measured on outputs and perception metrics, while CEOs and boards focused on revenue, market share and shareholder value. Incentives followed suit.
“Many CCOs were never incented on business KPIs,” Buchwald noted. “If your compensation is not tied to sales, share or stock price, you are not wired into the same measurement discipline as the rest of the C-suite.”
Artificial intelligence is now forcing a reckoning. Large language models make it possible to integrate disparate datasets and apply econometric analysis to communications efforts. Earned media, executive positioning and narrative strategy can be tied directly to business outcomes.
“For the first time, we can credibly attribute business impact to communications,” Buchwald said. “That changes the power dynamic.”
At Edelman, that shift is taking structural form through the Earn Flywheel, a framework that uses AI to identify cultural signals, validate them against client priorities, assemble dynamic teams, and run media mix and attribution models. The approach is being deployed with a Fortune 50 technology company, grounding earned media strategy and creative decisions in evidence.
“When you walk into a client meeting with data that connects earned strategy to performance, you’re not defending a channel,” Buchwald said. “You are shaping growth.”
Yet across the industry, AI strategy often lives in marketing, IT or operations. Communications is invited to collaborate but rarely to set direction. Buchwald sees that as a strategic risk.
“Hesitation is understandable,” he said. “But this is the moment to claim ownership.”
His advice: “Start with strategy before you buy technology,” he said. “Define what role AI plays in your function. Then appoint one accountable leader to drive it. And build enablement and incentives so adoption is real.”
Edelman is operationalizing that philosophy internally. The firm launched a mandatory AI competency journey requiring every employee to reach at least level 3 proficiency on a 5-point scale by the end of June. The program combines self-assessment, live instruction and peer learning to embed fluency across teams.
“AI literacy cannot be a side project,” Buchwald said. “It has to be embedded in how we operate.”
The stakes extend beyond process improvement. Embracing AI and earned media as strategic levers creates a pathway to larger budgets, stronger teams and closer alignment with enterprise priorities. Avoiding it carries consequences.
“If communications leaders embrace this shift, they can align with core business initiatives and expand their mandate,” Buchwald said. “If they do not, they risk marginalization.”
The choice facing CCOs is not about tools. It is about posture. In a business climate that increasingly rewards measurable impact, AI has become a proving ground for communications leadership.
Learn more from the Center for AI Strategy.
