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Your learning path: 16 lessons.
Module 01 / Lesson 01 · Read, apply, check
Find the routine work you can remove, then redesign the human role around evidence and editorial judgment.
Break each junior role into observable tasks: collecting links, transcribing interviews, preparing summaries, drafting routine copy, formatting reports, chasing approvals and checking facts. These bundles can be automated or substantially reshaped in an agency with tested AI workflows. That does not establish that every employer has eliminated the same job titles. Record a normal week of work, including interruptions and correction time. A role called researcher may spend half its time coordinating sources; a copywriter may already perform critical editorial checks that a task list would otherwise hide.
Classify tasks as prepare automatically, execute under defined authority, or retain human ownership. AI can prepare an interview summary while a person checks the recording; it can format an approved report while the account lead decides what the numbers mean. State the output and acceptance test for each task. “Write press releases” is too broad. “Prepare a first draft using these eight approved facts, with source references and missing information flagged” is testable and makes the remaining editor workload visible.
Choose five representative assignments, including a messy one. Compare the existing process with the proposed AI process using total active time, factual defects, missed context and revision rounds. Include the time spent providing inputs and correcting output. If AI saves drafting time but doubles senior editing, the bottleneck has moved. Retire a manual step only when its replacement meets the acceptance test reliably. Keep a fallback for inaccessible sources, broken connections and unusual client requests rather than forcing every exception through automation.
Turn a junior production role into an evidence editor or quality-control coordinator with a clear progression path. Give the person responsibility for source completeness, quote fidelity, factual checks and clean handoffs, supported by coaching and sample reviews. Remove redundant typing and formatting from the job description. Protect time for interviews and subject learning so the new role builds expertise. Review workload after the pilot: faster draft production can overwhelm editors unless the agency also limits work in progress and prioritizes client value.
Fictional first-trial figures from the lesson. The same complete workflow is compared.
| Task | Original | First trial |
|---|---|---|
| Collect URLs and assemble slides | 10 h | 3 h |
| Check dates, duplicates and accuracy | 3 h | 4 h |
| Interpretation handoff | 2 h | 2 h |
| Total | 15 h | 9 h |
The first trial produces more checking work. The editor uses that finding to improve duplicate handling; the six released hours are capacity, not automatic cash savings.
List the task, actual time, hidden coordination and common defects.
Compare complete workflows on representative assignments.
Remove a proven redundant step and keep an exception route.
Assign evidence checks, coaching and a measurable editorial remit.
A fictional five-person agency audits a week of monthly reporting. Its junior coordinator spends six hours collecting coverage URLs, four assembling slides, three checking dates and duplicates, and two asking account leads what the results mean. A trial uses AI to organize the URLs and prepare the slides from an approved template. Collection and assembly fall to three hours, while verification takes four because the first run includes syndicated duplicates. The coordinator adds a duplicate rule and tests again. The agency removes routine slide assembly from the role but preserves verification and interpretation handoffs. The employee becomes the evidence editor, learns to distinguish original coverage from repetitions and owns the source register. Management reports a measured process improvement, not an invented claim that all junior PR jobs have disappeared.
A second owner sees a convincing AI draft and deletes the research role immediately. Nobody now interviews the client or checks the supporting spreadsheet. The editor receives more polished copy but has to reconstruct the evidence, creating delays and unpaid revisions. Headcount looks leaner while delivery becomes more expensive. The problem is the removal of a function that had never been replaced, disguised by the speed of first-draft generation.
Automation savings are not the same as immediate cash savings. Released hours may improve capacity, turnaround or quality without reducing payroll. Decide how the agency will use the capacity and measure whether that happens. An editor title also requires training and authority; renaming a job without changing its responsibilities leaves the old production problem intact.
This audit is an operating method, not a claim about universal job losses or an instruction to dismiss staff. Personnel decisions require the agency’s own employment process. Assess task performance and development needs using job-relevant evidence; keep individual personnel information outside public course exercises.
Do this today · 30 minutes
Audit the fictional reporting role above and choose one manual step to replace.
A document or spreadsheet and the illustrative case in this lesson. Use synthetic or already approved material for practice; no paid account or real client data is required.
Before: List the task, actual time, hidden coordination and common defects.
After: Assign evidence checks, coaching and a measurable editorial remit.
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Test this worksheet on one bounded assignment. Record the reviewer’s findings, revise the method and assign the next review date.
Before you move on
Your agency’s AI pilot cuts drafting from four hours to one, but senior review rises from one hour to three and client revisions remain unchanged. The owner wants to declare a 75% productivity gain and remove the junior role. What should the audit conclude?
Next lesson →Associated Press: newsroom standards for AI
Lesson edition 1.0 · References reviewed 16 October 2026 · Practical exercise reviewed 16 October 2026. Examples are illustrative teaching scenarios.
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Original evidence. Human editorial judgment.
Use the worksheets to turn each lesson into a real decision. Improve the method as you learn from client evidence, editorial checks and delivery results.
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