Artificial intelligence can feel like magic one moment, madness the next. That was the theme of last week’s Madness & Magic: Peer Ideas for Marketing with AI session at NWPPA’s Northwest Innovations in Communications Conference. The conversation was lively, practical and occasionally hilarious as Utility Pioneers swapped stories of wins, worries and lessons learned.

When we asked Utility Pioneers to share how they feel about AI, the top three responses were helpful, excited and cautious.

Here are the top five takeaways for communicators and leaders navigating AI:

1. Stay Human

AI is a support tool, not a replacement. The strongest communicators in the room stressed that AI can help refine, repurpose and review—but people remain responsible for accuracy, ethics and tone. Keeping human oversight at the core builds trust with both internal teams and community members.

2. Prepare for Productivity and Pitfalls

From generating quick drafts to compiling data for newsletters, AI tools are accelerating workflows. At the same time, the group shared “madness” moments: hallucinated facts, clunky phrasing or images gone wrong. The advice? Enjoy the speed boost but double-check every detail before publishing.

• Use AI for early drafts, not final work.
• Set a time limit so you don’t get stuck “fixing” bad outputs.
• Never skip fact-checking or proofreading.

3. Equip Agents with Triggers + Goals

Everywhere I hear folks saying 2025 is the year of “agentic AI,” but what does that mean? I use baseball to explain how agents work. Think of AI agents as the players. Each agent has a specific job—pitcher, batter, catcher, etc. Those are the tasks you train an agent to do. Agentic AI is the team, a coordinated set of agents working together. You, as the coach, tell them how to play. Then the team works together to win— and by win, I mean meeting your goal.

Agents can send personalized reminders, scrape web content and help with other small tasks. I created an agent to scrape our website on a set day each month to pull news, blog, case study and podcasts excerpts, images and URLs for our StoryConnect newsletter and email the list to me. The agent instructions are two pages long, but it’ll save me an hour every month. Our solutions team also has an agent that scours the web for marketing and communications-related requests for proposals posted by electric utilities and broadband providers on sites like NWPPA.org.

Want agents to work for you and without striking out? Set clear goals, list trusted sources and provide clear guidelines.

• Start small: Pick one routine task to test.
• Agents are autonomous. Include a trigger that tells the agent when to run. That trigger can be a date, number or any other factor you want the agent to track.
• Write clear instructions so the agent knows exactly what to do.
• Be ready to revise the instructions if the results don’t meet your expectations.

4. Customize AI’s Creativity

Rather than start your AI chats from scratch, build smarter content with custom GPTs and knowledge base-driven projects in ChatGPT and Claude.

Save time by building generative AI on top of existing storytelling, for example past magazines, newsletters, brochures and more, and setting the tone and audience for messages. This helps content match your brand voice.

• Add your co-op’s brand style so AI “sounds” like you.
• Load in past stories to guide the tone.
• Share safe, public examples—never private data—to train it.
• Even with a custom GPT, be sure to review your content.

5. Build AI Policy and Transparency Foundation

As AI becomes part of daily work, it’s important to set clear rules that everyone understands. A strong AI policy should:

• Be transparent: Label AI-generated content and cite sources.
• Protect data: Never upload confidential or private info into public AI tools.
• Assign accountability: The employee who uses AI is still responsible for the output.
• Know AI limits: Watch for “hallucinations,” and check all sources.
• Review often: Update your AI guidelines as tools change.
• Include training: Make sure staff know how to use AI responsibly.

Want more? Join Pioneer’s hands-on AI workshop.

If you left the session buzzing with ideas, or a little overwhelmed, you’re not alone. That’s why Pioneer created an extended, practical workshop called Generate AI Storytelling Strengths.

The first workshop was held after the NIC in Montana, but we’re leading it two more times and can add dates if you want this type of training for an upcoming regional or statewide communications and marketing event.

In the half-day session, you’ll:

• Learn AI terms, tools and policies in plain language.
• Experiment with refining ideas and repurposing stories across channels.
• Build and test prompts, create custom GPTs and even design an agent.
• Leave with practical workflows you can start using immediately.

Bring your laptop and a few digital stories you’d like to improve—we’ll work together in real time using free A.I. tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Notebook LM.

Upcoming opportunities:

• Nov. 2, 2025: Preconference at APPA (1:30-5 p.m.) Sign up for the APPA workshop.
• April 16, 2026: Postconference at StoryConnect in Tacoma, Washington (add the workshop when you register).

Whether you’re chasing the magic or dodging the madness, these workshops are designed to help Utility Pioneers harness AI responsibly to build faster, smarter and more trusted connections with your community.