Communications major jobs are changing. Here’s what to look for

Yes, 100%. You will spend less time drafting than a communications major did three years ago. You will spend more time on judgment calls a tool cannot make. Examples may include what a company should say during a crisis, which reporter relationship is worth protecting, what a data dashboard’s numbers actually mean. Which side of that split you land on depends far more on your concentration and your program than on the word “communications” printed on a diploma.

This guide walks through what AI already does inside communications major jobs, what still needs a person and how to pick a concentration and a program that put you on the right side of that split.

Key Takeaways

• More than a third of entry-level job postings now require AI skills, nearly triple the share from fall 2025, per NACE employer survey data.
• The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 5% growth for public relations specialist roles from 2024 to 2034, with about 27,600 openings a year and median pay of $70,300.
• Muck Rack’s 2025 State of PR survey found 77% of PR professionals already use AI tools like ChatGPT, and 72% use them specifically for drafting content.
• The concentration matters more than the degree label. Strategy-heavy and relationship-heavy concentrations hold up better than task-heavy ones.
• A program’s AI readiness shows up in required coursework and faculty currency, not in a single elective nobody takes.

What AI already handles in communications major jobs

AI now drafts a genuine share of the entry-level task list: routine press releases, internal memos and first-pass social copy. Muck Rack’s 2025 State of PR survey found 77% of PR professionals already use AI tools like ChatGPT, and 72% use them specifically for drafting content.

That shift shows up in a specific, current practice. Some communications teams now write two versions of the same announcement. One is built to feed large language models directly (the kind that answer a customer’s question by summarizing a company’s own release). And a second, shorter version for human reporters. Writing the LLM-facing version is exactly the kind of task AI drafts well without much human editing.

So when Forbes lists communications among degrees AI is making redundant, the specific tasks it names are real. Drafting emails, internal messaging and routine press releases account for a genuine slice of what an entry-level hire used to spend a full day on. Ignoring that claim would be dishonest. But a task list is not the same as a job. The rest of this guide is about the difference between the two.

Curious where your own coursework and activities already point on this spectrum? See how AI’s impact on your target career shows up in a personalized profile analysis, not a generic list of automatable tasks.

What still requires a person: strategy, crisis response and relationships

Strategy, crisis response and the relationships that get a pitch answered are not automatable. These types of high stakes communications still need a human.

Keri Stephens, a professor at UT Austin’s Moody College of Communication, has been direct about the risk on the other side of that coin. AI can hallucinate, lacks source transparency and runs on biased training data. Her warning to students is specific. If you never learn to write without the tool, she says, it could hurt your career in the long term.

A reporter picks up the phone for a strategist they trust, not for whichever tool wrote the pitch. That trust takes months or years to build, and it is the hardest thing on this list for a company to replace with software. A concentration built entirely around drafting sits closer to the automated side of the job. A concentration built around judgment sits on the side that is holding up.

The pivot: pairing communications with data literacy

Data literacy, not coding, is the skill closing the gap AI just opened in communications major jobs. Every guide on this topic says some version of “pair your degree with tech skills.” Few say what that actually means day to day.

Here is the specific example. An AI tool can flag that engagement dropped 12% on a post. It cannot tell you whether that drop means the audience is fatigued, the timing was wrong, or some other big event happened that day. Reading a dashboard an AI tool generated, spotting the number that does not match the story it is telling, and knowing what to do next: that judgment call is still yours.

This is the same logic behind career-backward planning: start from the actual job you want, then work backward to the skills and coursework that get you there. A communications student pursuing strategic or crisis-heavy roles should treat a statistics or analytics course as core prep, not an elective to skip. How can you prep for this before college? Well, maybe you might run and read the analytics on a school club’s social account. Then, write a short report on what the numbers actually meant (and get it published). This does more for an application than a semester of passive coursework.

Strategic communications, PR and journalism face different AI exposure

Not every corner of communications faces the same automation risk. This comparison across concentrations helps explain the differences:

Concentration	What AI already handles well	What still needs a person
Strategic communications	Talking-point drafts, coverage summaries	Setting strategy, deciding what a brand says and why
Public relations	Routine press releases, media list building	Reporter relationships, crisis response, pitch judgment
Journalism	Summaries, first-pass headlines, basic reporting	Investigative work, source relationships, editorial judgment
Corporate/internal communications	Status updates, meeting summaries, FAQ drafts	Change management, executive messaging, sensitive announcements
Digital and social media	Scheduling, caption drafts, basic reporting	Platform strategy, community judgment, real-time crisis calls

Strategic communications and public relations, built around real judgment work, hold up better than a generic communications track with no concentration at all. That does not mean journalism or digital media are dead ends. It means the automatable-task share runs higher there. So the judgment-heavy layer of the work has to be built deliberately instead of assumed.

Mass communications major jobs vs. a concentrated track

A “mass communications” label signals breadth, not automation resistance, and that distinction matters more now than it did five years ago. Mass communications programs typically survey journalism, public relations, advertising and media production without requiring a student to specialize in any one of them.

This same tension shows up across parent forums. Families ask whether a communications degree is “safe”. The answers that hold up all point to the same fix. A broad degree is only a risk if a student never narrows it down. That worry predates AI by years. AI just raised the stakes on an old question.

Breadth still has real value if you use it deliberately: a semester exploring digital media, then a semester in crisis-simulation coursework, then a portfolio built around whichever concentration actually fit. Breadth without a plan to narrow it down is what leaves a graduate closest to the automated slice of the job. This is true regardless of whether the diploma says “communications” or “mass communications.”

What to check in a communications program in 2026

Check whether a program’s analytics or applied-AI coursework sits inside the required core, not in an elective track most students skip. A required sequence signals the department has actually restructured, not just added a single new listing. Four things are worth checking before you commit.

Faculty currency. A course still teaching 2023-era AI tools is already behind, since the tools themselves change roughly every semester. Ask how recently the syllabus was updated and by whom.

Real crisis or client work. Programs with an actual client-facing capstone, a crisis-simulation exercise, or a partnership with a real newsroom or agency teach the judgment layer directly. A lecture about crisis communications is not the same as running one under a deadline.

Program-specific outcomes, not just brand name. Two schools can list nearly identical course titles. What differs is which one has faculty who can explain, in detail, how the curriculum changed in the last two years. 

Accreditation, as a checkable signal, not a guarantee. The Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications accredits roughly 120 undergraduate and profession-focused master’s programs across journalism, PR, advertising, strategic communication and digital media. Accreditation alone does not confirm a program has restructured around AI.

Still deciding whether communications is the right degree at all, or comparing it against something else? Our breakdown of major choice versus school prestige is worth reading before you rank programs by name recognition.

See exactly how your target communications programs and concentration line up against your own GPA, activities and coursework. Score communications programs with a free Waystone assessment, built around your actual profile, not a generic ranking.

Frequently asked questions about communications major jobs and AI

Is a communications degree worth it now that AI writes press releases?

Yes, though the concentration you choose matters more than it used to. AI genuinely handles routine drafting well. It does not set strategy, manage a crisis, or build the reporter relationships that decide whether a pitch lands. Communications major jobs built around those skills are holding up.

Which communications concentration holds up best against AI?

No concentration is fully insulated, but strategic communications and public relations roles built around judgment and relationships change more slowly than task-heavy tracks. Pairing any concentration with real data literacy narrows the exposed slice of the job further.

Do communications or mass communications programs require AI courses now?

Not universally, but that is shifting fast. Check whether analytics or applied AI coursework sits in the required core for your specific concentration rather than assuming every program has already updated its curriculum.

What should you build outside of class to stand out in communications?

Build one concrete, documented project instead of a long list of clubs. Running and reporting on a real social account, a crisis-simulation exercise, or an internship inside an actual comms team does more for an application than broad involvement with no specific output.

How is strategic communications different from public relations?

Strategic communications is the broader umbrella, covering advertising, digital strategy and political communication alongside PR. Public relations is one concentration inside that umbrella, focused specifically on media relationships, reputation and public-facing messaging.

Where this leaves your communications major jobs plan

Communications major jobs are not going away, and the Forbes headline about redundant degrees is not the full story. It names a real slice of the entry-level task list, not the whole job. Strategy, crisis response and the relationships that get a pitch answered are still human work, and that work is not shrinking.

Check whether a program’s analytics and AI coursework sits in the required core. Look for real client or crisis work, not a single elective. Build one documented project that proves you can do the judgment part, not just describe it. The concentration you choose, and the program that actually teaches it, matter more than the word on your diploma.