How Internal Communications Teams Are Using AI to Understand Their Audiences in 2025

As we step into 2025, AI continues to transform the way IC teams understand and engage with their audiences. Just as marketing teams have used AI to craft tailored customer experiences, IC teams are now leveraging these tools to create meaningful and relevant communication journeys for employees.

Using AI to Understand Internal Audiences

AI-driven tools are empowering IC teams with data-driven insights that go far beyond traditional employee (or Pulse) surveys. Some suggestions of how AI can help you better understand your workforce are:

Sentiment Analysis 

AI tools can scan employee feedback (from pulse surveys to anonymous comments on digital platforms) and provide sentiment analysis. This reveals how employees feel about key topics such as leadership, workplace culture, or organisational change. For instance, tools like Microsoft Viva or Qualtrics leverage natural language processing (NLP) to identify recurring themes and emotions in real-time.

Behavioural Insights from Digital Tools 

Analyse patterns in the usage of internal tools such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom or intranet platforms. AI can identify which content formats (e.g., video, email, infographics) perform best with different employee segments, helping you refine your communications strategy.

Predictive Analytics 

By analysing historical data, AI can predict potential communication challenges, such as low engagement or resistance to change. For example, if a team consistently disengages with leadership updates, AI can flag this for targeted action.

Employee Personas and Clusters 

AI can cluster employees into personas based on their preferences, roles, tenure, and communication habits. This allows you to create audience segments such as "remote-working millennials" or "frontline managers," enabling you to tailor content specifically to each group.

A recent Gartner report carried out in 2024 detailed that around 38% of HR leaders are piloting, planning implementation or have already implemented Generative AI, which is a significant jump compared to a similar report from 2023 when only 19% of HR leaders were engaging with AI tech. 

An example of this can be seen from Salesforce who are already utilising tools such as AI-powered sentiment analysis to track employee responses to major organisational changes. By identifying teams with lower morale, it enabled them to intervene with tailored support initiatives.

In summary, as our adoption of AI accelerates, IC teams have a unique opportunity to harness its potential to create more personalised, effective, and impactful employee engagement strategies and communications.