Comms with AI

Govern

AI use policy, AI tool register, approval workflows, claims substantiation, tone verification, accessibility review and crisis preparedness: the quality and risk layer that protects what gets published.

Built for comms leads who are accountable for how AI gets used – the ones who need to show legal, the board, or a client that the practice is governed and defensible. Each template pairs a workflow with the human review step that makes the output safe to stand behind. For the ground rules on what to put into an AI tool and what to keep out, start with using AI safely in comms.

New to this phase? Read the Govern reference

All Strategise Create Govern Monitor Transform

15 templates

Difficulty

20 minutes Intermediate Govern

Feedback Reconciliation Triage

Sort conflicting reviewer comments on a draft into the few that are real objections and the many that are taste, then resolve each with a named owner, so a piece that took an hour to write does not take four days to clear.

45 minutes for a first audit of ten materials Intermediate Govern

Materials Consistency Audit

Check every live piece of collateral, from the website to the sales deck to the newsletter footer, against one source of truth, and log every figure, name, claim and description that has drifted.

30 minutes to set up, 5 minutes per entry Intermediate Govern

Position Register

A standing record of what your organisation has said publicly on the issues that matter, when, where and why, so any new statement can be checked against the old ones before a journalist does it for you.

40 minutes Intermediate Govern

AI Tool Register

A living register of the AI tools your comms team uses: what each is approved for, what data it may handle, who owns it and when it was last reviewed. The single source of truth your AI use policy points to.

45 minutes Intermediate Govern Featured

AI Use Policy (Living)

A working AI use policy for a comms team: what is permitted, what needs review, what is off-limits, how AI use is disclosed and how data is handled. Built to be kept current, not written once and forgotten.

30 minutes per review Intermediate Govern

AI Use Review & Risk Log

A simple cadence and running log for keeping a comms team's AI use governed over time: a quarterly review of policy, tools and standards, plus a standing record of issues, near-misses and decisions.

30 minutes for first-pass drafts; 2–6 hours to complete the full staged process with sign-offs Advanced Govern Featured

Real-Time Crisis Response Playbook

A staged communications playbook for managing any crisis in real time, from the first 60 minutes through to resolution. Covers operational failures, reputational crises, leadership issues, workforce emergencies, and third-party failures.

30 minutes for audit; 2–3 hours for full documentation Advanced Govern

Brand Voice Audit Checklist

A structured audit and documentation process for assessing the consistency of your organisation's communications voice – and building guidelines to maintain it.

30 minutes for first-pass drafts; 2–4 hours to complete the full staged process with sign-offs Advanced Govern

Security Incident Communications Playbook

Staged communications templates for a security incident – from the first internal holding line through customer notification, press response, and post-incident summary.

23 minutes Intermediate Govern Featured

Accessibility Review Checklist

Ensure communications are inclusive and accessible to people with different abilities and disabilities.

18 minutes Starter Govern Featured

Approval Workflow Mapper

Map out sign-off processes for content approval workflows to ensure clear accountability and timelines.

24 minutes Intermediate Govern Featured

Claims Substantiation Checklist

Verify all factual claims in communications with evidence and documentation before approval.

17 minutes Starter Govern Featured

Content Approval Tracker

Monitor the status of multiple content items moving through approval workflows in a centralised dashboard.

35 minutes Advanced Govern Featured

Crisis Content Pre-Approval Pack

Prepare holding statements and pre-approved messages for crisis scenarios before incidents occur.

19 minutes Starter Govern Featured

Tone & Style Checker

Verify communications maintain brand voice consistency and appropriate tone for audience and context.

Applied Comms With AI

Applied in this phase

Everything tagged Govern

Tue 8 Sept 2026

Article Govern

How to Give AI a Memory: A Practical Guide for Comms Teams

A lot of AI output feels generic, and one reason is that the model has no idea what your organisation has already said, approved or decided. Here is where a durable memory can live, ten practices that keep it trustworthy, and three things you can do today.
Thu 3 Sept 2026

Article Govern

Lessons from OpenAI's Hugging Face 'break-in': Why Orchestration Is Your Next Must-Have Comms AI Skill

Hundreds of AI agents attacked Hugging Face without once asking a human for help. Ethan Mollick's response points at a future that needs exactly the skills comms people already have.
Tue 2 Jun 2026

Interview Govern

The Honesty Gap: Ben Verinder on AI, PR and Trust

Ben Verinder has researched AI in public relations for eight years. In this Applied Comms AI Leader Interview, he explains why the policy gap everyone talks about sits on top of a deeper one: an honesty gap between teams, agencies and the people they serve.

Frequently asked questions

How do you govern AI use in communications?: With clear approval workflows, claims substantiation, tone verification, and a human review step before anything is published. The Govern templates turn each of those into a repeatable process you can show to legal, a board, or a client.
What should an AI use policy for a comms team include?: At minimum: what tools are approved, what data can and can't go into them, who signs off AI-assisted content, and how outputs are checked for accuracy and tone. These templates give you the building blocks; Deploy Comms With AI builds the full policy with you.
How do I check AI-generated content before it goes out?: Run it through a consistent review: substantiate every factual claim, verify tone against your brand, check accessibility, and confirm sign-off. The governance templates provide the checklists so the review is the same every time, whoever does it.

More in the Learn hub: live sessions and their write-ups, the 5-phase framework, and training.