On June 27, we welcomed Maya McKechneay as a speaker for an online session on “AI in Corporate Publishing”.
As an experienced editor at a corporate publishing agency, Maya began her presentation with a key challenge facing the industry:
“How can we meaningfully integrate AI into our work without jeopardizing the quality and integrity of our content?”
Based on this question, Maya unfolded a fascinating picture of the current developments and future possibilities of AI in the industry.
The balancing act between efficiency and quality
Maya emphasized that the use of AI in editorial work requires constant consideration. On the one hand, AI offers enormous potential for increasing efficiency; on the other hand, it must be ensured that human expertise and critical judgment are not lost. She illustrated this with specific examples from her day-to-day work:
- Transcription of interviews
- Translations with DeepL and DeepL Write
- Experimenting with AI tools for text revision
- Cautious use for research purposes
- Summary of content for social media
- Generation of interview questions
Maya’s experience of using AI to prepare expert interviews was particularly interesting. She throws studies or specialist articles into Google Gemini and has questions suggested that go beyond the usual standard questions – an example of how AI can support creative work without replacing it.
Looking to the future: potential and concerns
Maya also ventured an outlook on future applications of AI in corporate publishing:
- Target group-specific adaptation of content
- Automated audio formats for articles
- AI-assisted proofreading and editing
- Creation of tables of contents
- Idea generation for magazine titles and claims
- Hybrid bridges between static print formats and digital updates
At the same time, she spoke openly about the challenges and concerns associated with the increased use of AI:
- Ensuring the quality of AI-generated content
- Copyright issues
- Need for human review and post-processing
- Potential impact on freelance copywriters
Maya emphasized the importance of the “human in the loop” principle – AI-generated content should always be reviewed and refined by humans.
Conclusion: AI as a tool, not a replacement
The session with Maya McKechneay offered a realistic and practical insight into the changing world of corporate publishing. Her conclusion: While AI undoubtedly has the potential to revolutionize many aspects of editorial work, human creativity and critical judgment remain irreplaceable. The future lies in the skillful combination of AI support and human expertise to produce high-quality, target group-oriented content.
What we also liked: How Maya starts with very specific questions and problems in order to find and implement very specific solutions using digital tools. AI as a problem-solving tool that enables very efficient workflows.
We thank Maya for her valuable insights and look forward to following the further development of AI in corporate publishing!