Asger Risom
Cheap content has never been easier to produce.
As AI floods the internet with words, tech companies are discovering that meaning, clarity and trust are suddenly scarce.
For years, Silicon Valley’s most prized skill was the ability to write code. Now, amid an explosion of generative AI, tech companies are paying a premium for something far older: the ability to communicate clearly and credibly.
From venture capital firms to AI labs, companies are expanding communications teams and offering salaries that rival senior engineering roles. The shift reflects a growing belief that in an era of endless AI-generated content, strong human storytelling has become a competitive advantage.
A narrative arms race
Andreessen Horowitz launched a New Media team to help founders “win the narrative battle online.” Adobe is hiring an “AI evangelist” to shape its artificial intelligence messaging. Netflix recently advertised a director of product and technology communications role with a top salary near $775,000.
Anthropic tripled its communications staff last year to about 80 people and continues to hire more, each role paying roughly $200,000 or higher.
OpenAI has posted communications jobs offering more than $400,000, far above the U.S. average of about $106,000 for communications directors.
The hiring surge comes as companies compete for attention in an increasingly noisy tech landscape.
The AI paradox
Generative AI has made producing text effortless, but that abundance has created new problems inside companies. Workers report being buried in verbose, low-quality AI output, eroding trust and wasting time.
Even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has warned that online discourse is starting to “feel very fake.” As a result, firms are leaning on experienced communicators to filter, refine and shape messages that sound human and intentional.
“If everyone’s a writer, then nobody’s a writer,” said Cristin Culver, founder of Common Thread Communications, describing the sameness of AI-generated posts filling platforms like LinkedIn.
Skills that scale
Communications roles are also expanding in scope. Today’s leaders are expected to understand large language models, manage blogs and newsletters, shape executive voices on LinkedIn and Substack, and align messaging across marketing, policy and human resources.
At Fortune 1000 companies, the number of chief communications officers with responsibilities beyond traditional comms nearly doubled between 2019 and 2024, according to the Observatory on Corporate Reputation. Median pay for CCOs at Fortune 500 firms has climbed to roughly $400,000 to $450,000.
A shifting talent market
The trend contrasts sharply with the cooling demand for software engineers. U.S. job postings for software developers fell sharply between 2023 and late 2025, while communications graduates posted lower unemployment rates than computer science majors.
Some industry veterans argue the lesson is simple: automation raises the value of judgment, taste and critical thinking. AI can generate words, but it does not decide what matters.
As one communications executive put it, the challenge is no longer creating content, but creating something “worthy of people’s time and attention.”
Sources: Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, Korn Ferry, Observatory on Corporate Reputation, CompTIA, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
