We stand at a defining moment for corporate communications: the rise of artificial intelligence is not merely technological: it is geopolitical, cultural, and organizational. In “Communicating with Robots, Connecting to People,” Aegon Chief Brand and Communications Officer Nanne Bos outlines a bold vision for the next decade of our profession. It’s a future where AI rewires our work, not our purpose.
Below is a 3-minute summary of the whitepaper, which you can read in full on the Page Knowledge Base.
Prediction 1: Synthetic Stakeholders Will Mediate Trust
By the 2030s, personalized AI agents (what Bos calls “synthetic stakeholders”) will become the primary interface between organizations and their audiences. These agents will filter, interpret, and personalize corporate content on behalf of investors, customers, employees, and the public. As trust shifts from institutions to machines, traditional narratives will fragment into millions of hyper-personalized storylines.
Communicators will no longer control how messages are framed. Instead, we’ll steer stories across AI-mediated ecosystems, where credibility is verified by algorithms and emotional resonance is personalized at scale. Tools like OpenAI’s fact-checkers and MIT’s research into AI-mediated communication suggest that how an AI interprets a message may soon matter more than the message itself.
Prediction 2: From Mass Communication to Mass Conversations
The one-to-many broadcast model is over. AI will usher in an era of “mass conversations” with millions of real-time, emotionally intelligent interactions between brands and stakeholders. With generative avatars, context-sensitive messaging, and AI-powered relationship managers, communication will shift from being reactive to being continuously adaptive.
Bos envisions a future where every stakeholder, from investors to employees, engages in a dynamic, personalized dialogue. Communications professionals will become architects of distributed intimacy, supervising tone calibration algorithms, ethical guardrails, and real-time engagement across borders and cultures.
Prediction 3: Reactive No More—Enter Predictive Communications
AI will not only personalize conversations but forecast them. Corporate communicators will leverage predictive models to detect emerging risks, simulate reputational scenarios and map emotional response patterns, before a message is even sent.
Already, there are tools that scan the open and dark web for narrative threats. By 2030, communication will function as a strategic foresight engine, transforming practitioners from message crafters into narrative futurists. This leap demands rigorous governance: transparent algorithms, ethical frameworks, and human oversight will be essential to navigate the line between persuasion and manipulation.
Prediction 4: The Return to Human Authenticity
Ironically, as synthetic content floods the ecosystem, the human voice will become more valuable than ever. Bos anticipates a backlash to AI-generated “slop” (low-quality, generic content) and a surge in demand for emotionally resonant, ethically grounded communication.
Messages that succeed will center emotional truth, moral clarity and vulnerability. Edelman’s 2024 Trust Barometer shows audiences prefer messages from real people over brands, and that trust increases when emotional transparency is evident. The future of communication lies not in rejecting AI, but in blending its scale with human nuance. Co-intelligence—not competition—will define this next chapter.
Prediction 5: The AI-Native Comms Function Emerges
By 2030, communications departments will look entirely different. Content creation will be automated, while humans will guide, audit, and curate AI outputs. New roles, like narrative designers, communication ethicists, and predictive strategists, will define the next generation of comms professionals.
Organizational structures will flatten, silos will dissolve, and communication will become a continuous, intelligent function integrated across the business. Yet in high-stakes moments, like crises, restructures, reputational flashpoints, human judgment will remain irreplaceable.
Ultimately, the future of communication is not about man versus machine: it’s about humans guiding machines with greater empathy, foresight, and integrity. AI will amplify our abilities, but trust, meaning, and connection will always be human at their core. Watch the Page Conversation replay to learn how Nanne implemented AI technology as part of the content function at Aegon (member login required).