Discover why traditional crisis PR fails in today’s rapid-fire world. Learn how tech companies master real-time responses, prepare for the unpredictable, and leverage AI to stay ahead.
It doesn’t take advanced technology to recognize that ‘crisis’ has become the new normal for brands today. With relentless scrutiny, increased polarization, global instability and a fragmented but rapidly shifting media environment, companies face an era of interlocking issues that mutate and move faster than ever before, leaving lasting reputational damage in their wake if not managed correctly.
A corporate-first typified the old school of crisis communication, top-down mindset: “Safety first and let the lawyers take the lead.” The tools of this approach—the carefully scripted CEO speech that prioritized limiting liability over honest emotion, the jargon-heavy company statement released to a few friendly media contacts and parked on the website—now seem as dated as faxed material and the ‘fingers crossed’ belief that a story will die out in the face of minimal transparency.
Tech companies, on the other hand, live by the new rules of crisis communication. They understand how to operate in real-time under their product and service offerings. They recognize that audiences expect immediate updates, and that digital and social media can create unsustainable pressure on companies looking to ride out a crisis in silence. In addition, they have direct insight into the speed with which misinformation proliferates in the age of artificial intelligence (AI), where fake news can spread around the world before a corporate statement has made it through the first round of approvals.
Because of this, tech companies are deeply entrenched in practicing one of the cardinal new rules of crisis management—that the best way to handle a crisis is to prepare so it doesn’t happen in the first place. These companies are investing in the spadework of crisis management by mapping potential vulnerabilities, taking a global 360-degree perspective of them, and developing scenarios accordingly.
Part of their success lies in their deployment of tools to track millions of conversations across social media and forums, detect unusual spikes in mentions, and alert comms teams to potential crises. For example, companies as varied as Salesforce and IBM have seen significant success in using AI to monitor their digital reputations in real time, detecting issues before they escalate.
Take, for example, the thorny issue of the ethical deployment of AI. Given the potential for significant disruption to workforces, industries, and markets around the world, companies that are enthusiastically deploying AI solutions should also invest in understanding their potential impact. As a result, IT leaders are working hard to develop sustainable ethical frameworks for AI, whether through Google’s federated, bottom-up approach that sees dedicated teams conduct regular reviews of AI principles, or Microsoft’s multilayered governance structure that aims to set responsible standards across its product set.
Investing in knowledge resources and company readiness enables organizations to provide genuine thought leadership when faced with tough questions around key issues. When Microsoft is challenged regarding its partnership with OpenAI, for example, it can offer detailed explanations of the safety protocols and commitments to responsible innovation it has in place because of its investment in governance.
The key lesson is that regularly auditing risk areas and developing policies around them enables the creation of reputation capital. Companies that put the work in ahead of time don’t have to play defence when a crisis hits.
Such effort enables companies to put systems in place to pre-empt and respond swiftly to breaking news, recognizing another key rule of crisis communication–the first 12 hours of a crisis are the most critical.
A crucial step for a swift response is optimizing micro-content for multiple platforms. The old-school approach of a single press release or statement is of little value in a world where audiences get their updates from social media and messaging apps. Customizing messaging to fit the tone and format of different platforms and ensuring micro-content availability—short videos, social tiles—is vital to cutting through in a crisis.
Such responses need to be filtered through a local and culturally aware prism. The international platform provided by social media sites such as LinkedIn is causing many CEOs to recognize the importance of geotargeting, to avoid a positive response in one market exacerbating criticism in another. Vague but supportive statements that might have played well to liberal Western audiences can easily be misinterpreted in growing GCC and Global South markets and need to be tailored accordingly.
Of course, AI has the potential to be as much of a risk as a tool in crises. We have already seen crises driven by algorithmic bias, deepfake videos, and data mismanagement, which are only likely to increase as the technology proliferates. Understanding what the technology can do for good and ill is a core skill for communications professionals in 2025.
The deployment of AI as a content tool illustrates another new rule—audiences prioritize authenticity, empathy, and accountability. The tech world has learned that today’s audiences are attuned to performative statements and that deflection is no longer a working strategy. While AI can produce a holding statement in a matter of seconds (thanks, ChatGPT!), such content will always need to be modified with a human voice. Increasingly, crisis strategies look to deploy a range of stakeholders—employees and community voices—rather than just the CEO or legal counsel, to enhance the authenticity of the response. This authenticity is likely to be undermined by an AI-generated chatbot handling questions on your behalf.
The new rules of crisis communication demand a fusion of preparation, real-time intelligence, and ethical clarity. AI can help navigate the turbulence, but the human element – values, leadership, and trust—remains at the core of any successful strategy.
