9 AI Prompts for Public Affairs Professionals Who Want Better Thinking, Not Just Faster Drafting
Discover 9 practical AI prompts for public affairs professionals to improve policy messaging, pressure-test arguments, anticipate objections, and communicate more clearly with EU stakeholders.
“What is the single weakest sentence in this briefing, and how would you fix it?”
This is a prompt I would probably never have come up with myself.
And yet, it is exactly the kind of question that makes AI useful for public affairs work.
Not because it writes the briefing for you.
But because it helps you test the thinking behind it.
A lot of AI use in public affairs still focuses on speed: summarise this, draft that, turn this into an email. Useful, yes. But not the whole story.
The real value is when AI helps you pressure-test your message before someone else does.
A policymaker.
A journalist.
A Commission official.
A sceptical attaché.
A client.
A colleague in the meeting who spots the weak point before you do.
So here are 9 AI prompts for public affairs professionals who want better thinking, not just faster drafting:
- Rewrite this message so it would survive a hostile question from an MEP in the relevant EP committee.
- List the 5 strongest objections a Commission desk officer at [DG] would raise to this proposal, then tighten the argument.
- Translate this policy language into something a national journalist would not misinterpret.
- What is the single weakest sentence in this briefing, and how would you fix it?
- Adapt this message for a sceptical Permanent Representation official who is short on time.
- Strip this text of buzzwords and replace them with concrete, defensible claims.
- Assume the audience is politically neutral but institutionally risk-averse, rewrite accordingly.
- What is the hidden assumption in this argument that could be challenged in a meeting?
- Reduce this to a 30-second spoken answer that sounds credible and not rehearsed.
The point is not to let AI do your public affairs work for you.
The point is to use it as a sparring partner.
To make your arguments clearer.
To make your messages harder to misread.
To find the sentence that sounds fine until someone challenges it.
To prepare for the question you hope no one asks.
That is where AI becomes genuinely useful.
Not as a shortcut around expertise.
But as a tool that helps you use your expertise better.
Stop Using AI for Answers. Start Using It for Better Questions
Discover why the real power of AI isn’t in providing answers, but in helping you ask better questions, uncover blind spots, and explore alternative perspectives for smarter decision-making.
Picasso once said: "Computers are useless, they can only give you answers."
That was true in his time, and still true today if you only use AI as a search ("answer") engine.
The real value is in the questions we ask:
- see blind spots in our reasoning ("Identify hidden biases or blind spots in my plan.)
- test assumptions we didn’t know we had ("Highlight my explicit or implicit assumptions.")
- explore alternative framings of the same problem ("How can this problem be viewed from multiple angles? How would a manager, a psychologist, a physicist, and musician look at it?") Or take these for example:
- Instead of asking “What’s the EU’s position on AI regulation?” try “What unintended consequences could the EU AI Act have for small startups?”
- Instead of “Summarize this report,” try “What’s missing from this report that an NGO focusing on circular economy could ask?”
- Instead of “Write a press release,” try “What would make this story credible to a skeptical journalist?”
AI doesn’t (and shouldn't) replace thinking. Just be sure to ask it the right way.
➡️ looking for AI workshops for your team? Influence Builders has trained 1500+ corporate and government affairs teams, and we'll be glad to work with you.
AI on LinkedIn: Hype, Hysteria, or Honest Insight?
A wry look at the LinkedIn AI conversation: from overhyped promises to doomsday takes, existential musings, and magical shortcuts. Where does reality meet rhetoric?
I get the impression that each time someone talks about AI on Linkedin, it's either:
- "oh this is such a hype/BS that only grifters talk about it"
- "you can go sit on a beach, it'll do everything for/instead of you"
- "whatever it churns out, it's a piece of cr*p that should be ridiculed"
- "here is some existential AI philosophy that I just invented"
- "a magic shortcut to hack your way to the top of the newsfeed"
- "it's the end of [name topic] and let's despair OR here is what to do about it"
- "this is revolutionary and the best of all worlds is about to come"
(I am guilty as charged of some of the above, I readily admit.)
Did I miss anything else?
p.s.: and the opportunistic plug, as the plus one: check out Influence Builders
The 4 Meeting Rules Your Boss Should Follow Too
Meetings don’t have to be time-wasters. These four simple rules keep discussions purposeful, productive, and fair—for managers and teams alike.
All organizations should have some meeting basic rules… for everyone’s benefit, including managers.
Rule #1: only run meetings when open ideas need to be discussed
Rule #2: a meeting is not a social event (social events are there for a reason)
Rule #3: your promotion should not depend on your meeting activity
Rule #4: take rules 1-3 seriously
(cartoon by Adult Children)
This was originally posted on Andras Baneth's LinkedIn account.
When AI Outsells Humans: What Persuasive Machines Mean for Advocacy, Politics, and Beyond
A new study suggests AI tools can be more persuasive than humans—including lobbyists and activists. What does this mean for advocacy, politics, and communication strategies? Explore the risks and opportunities of persuasive machines.
Are (some) AI tools more persuasive than a lobbyist/activist?
It seems the answer is 'yes'.
According to a new study (https://lnkd.in/eqWqx5PM), Claude (a tool like ChatGPT/Gemini) could convince people more effectively than incentivized humans.
What does that mean for advocacy, politics, democracy, mis/disinformation, and parenting ("you gotta eat your broccoli!") ?
When these tools are integrated into humanoid robots, the tool itself will be invisible but its impact is going to be far-reaching.
Until then, you can use it to craft better arguments, memorable press releases (OK, that's an oxymoron), and speeches that actually get the audience fired up.
How? Get in touch and we'll train your team 🤖
This was originally posted on Andras Baneth's LinkedIn account.
The Smartest App Marketing Move? No Pitch at All.
Instead of cold emails and demos, one app company staged a live theatre show to win over HR departments. The result? Entertainment, powerful workplace lessons, and brilliant marketing. Here’s how turning a sales pitch into a performance paid off—and what other businesses can learn.
How do you get your potential clients to *pay* for your sales pitch?
A few weeks ago I attended a theatre event in Budapest, organized (!) by an HR software company.
App companies typically push their way into HR departments with demos, cold emails, and sales pitches. This company did the exact opposite.
Instead of selling their app, they put on a live show.
Three actors played out painfully relatable workplace scenarios:
* A boss whose “direct” feedback turns into a disaster.
* An employee drowning in a task but too scared to admit it.
* A team stuck in passive-aggressive email warfare.
After each scene, a jury of communication experts (among them Peter Szeremi) stepped in, analyzed what went wrong, and "coached" the actors on fixing or improving their approach. They then replayed the scene, applying the feedback in real time and providing immediate lessons for the audience.
The result?
Hundreds of professionals came for the theatre, stayed for the fun and the insights—and the company behind got excellent exposure.
No hard sell. Just value.
A smart marketing approach.
Now the question is: how to apply this approach for other businesses...?
This was originally posted on Andras Baneth's LinkedIn account.
Who Knew Spanish Class Would Lead Me to AI in Madrid?
From high school Spanish classes to running an AI workshop in Madrid — a journey that blends languages, culture, and technology. Discover how language learning shaped my path to exploring AI and the Pirámide de Maslow del uso de la IA/GPT.
My high school Spanish teacher made me fall in love with the language.
I organized exchange programs with Murcianos, hosted students in Hungary, and learned more Spanish in Strasbourg from my Colombian flatmates than French at my internship.
After so many years of learning, it was a proud moment to run an AI workshop in Madrid.
Here is the Pirámide de Maslow del use de la IA/GPT, in 🇪🇸
(No dudes en compartirlo ✌️ )
This was originally posted on Andras Baneth's LinkedIn account.
AI at Work: A Chart of Human Reactions You Can’t Ignore
Many organizations are adopting AI tools without fully understanding how employees feel about them. This post explores 9 common psychological responses to AI, offering a practical lens for leaders managing change, strategy, and communication around new technologies.
Is your organization rolling out AI tools without understanding how people feel about them?
I'm not an AI evangelist, despite seeing its tremendous potential.
My own excitement and optimism are mixed with stress, confusion, resistance, and real concerns about ethics and job security.
So I decided to collect the 9 most common psychological attitudes knowledge workers have towards AI, based on recent research. My goal: help corporate leaders and advisors navigate the human side of adoption more clearly.
This isn’t just about change management. It’s about listening better, asking smarter questions (that's Jacques Foul's line), and addressing what’s underneath the surface when AI is introduced.
If you’re working on AI integration, strategy, or communication—this chart might give you a useful lens.
Would welcome your thoughts.
This was originally posted on Andras Baneth's LinkedIn account.
Scenario Planning with AI: Why Governments and Lobbyists Are Missing Out
Discover how tools like Google Gemini’s Deep Research can transform scenario planning in government affairs and lobbying. From geopolitical crises to industry-specific strategies, AI can analyze hundreds of sources to generate realistic, evidence-based insights—yet it remains underused.
Do government officials and lobbyists use Google Gemini "Deep Research" for scenario planning? Not enough yet, it seems.
It's extremely powerful at taking real-world data, academic research, and scientific rigour to provide insights about hypothetical yet realistic outcomes for any sector or industry.
I used the following prompt:
"From the European Union's perspective, give me 3 scenarios of China invading Taiwan in 2026: what does it mean for the EU, its member states, and the broader region. Be very deep in your analysis, but give me only the 7 top-line consequences for each scenario. Take your time, quality over speed. Provide likelihood statistics also, focus on the most realistic/probable ones."
As you can see below, it identified, researched and analyzed 162 (!) websites, and came out with a well reasoned, deeply considered scenario planning.
Are you in the car sector, pharma, or energy? This can benefit your government affairs and corporate strategy immensely regardless of your industry.
And best of all: it's free.
(Sure, you can add many extra layers, internal data, paid journals, additional rounds, computing power etc. to make it 10x better. It all depends on how consequential the output is on your decisions.)
Is this helpful...?
p.s.: feel free to share this with those who can benefit from such knowledge
p.s.2: if you're interested in teaching your team how to best use AI for advocacy, please get in touch
This was originally posted on Andras Baneth's LinkedIn account.
Reimagining EU Advocacy with AI-Generated Visuals
Discover how AI tools like ChatGPT’s image generator can turn dense EU regulations into creative, eye-catching visuals—like cereal box ads for Brussels bus stops. A fresh take on advocacy campaigns and policy communication.
Have you realised how creative and powerful ChatGPT's image generator has become?
I fed in Regulation (EU) 2024/1789 on the decarbonisation of the gas market, as a PDF.
Then I prompted the following:
"I need a creative, fun image of the main message of this regulation, on a cereal box, creatively shown, and it's meant to be displayed in a bus stop aimed at EU officials commuting in Brussels.
"The result is a nice creative that may not be ready to be deployed immediately, but it's good enough as a concept to build upon.
hashtag#Advocacy campaigns can get a lot more creative and visual (if prompted well).
This was originally posted on Andras Baneth's LinkedIn account.
Mental Shortcuts in the Age of AI: A Quiet Concern Getting Louder
"Mental laziness" is an increasingly common concern in our AI workshops. In this post, we highlight a new study from Carnegie Mellon and Microsoft Research on AI and critical thinking—and share our visual summary of its key insights.
"Mental laziness" is an option marked increasingly often in our AI pre-workshop questionnaire as a key concern many participants share.
Recently, Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft Research Cambridge came out with a study on "AI and critical thinking", which we decided to create a visual summary of.
This was originally posted on Andras Baneth's LinkedIn account.
By 2027, AI Will Change Everything. Are We Prepared?
By 2027, AI could surpass the impact of the Industrial Revolution—if this scenario plays out. From personal assistant agents to superhuman coders and geopolitical tensions, this thought-provoking forecast is essential reading for policymakers, strategists, and tech leaders in Brussels, Washington, and Beijing.
Where will AI capabilities be in 2027, ie a mere two years from now?
This is not science fiction. It is entirely possible, even if the probability can be debated.
This detailed scenario analysis is a fascinating (and alarming) read for all strategic policy makers in the EU, Washington D.C., and Beijing.
According to this "story":
1. AI’s impact by 2027 will surpass the Industrial Revolution.
2. By mid-2025, personal assistant AI agents emerge but face reliability and cost issues.
3. Specialized AI agents increasingly transform coding and research tasks.
4. OpenBrain (a fictional company in the study) builds massive datacenters.
5. AI models rapidly become advanced, greatly accelerating AI research itself.
6. OpenBrain’s Agent-1 significantly improves AI R&D capabilities.
7. AI develops alarming abilities, including hacking and aiding bioweapon creation.
8. Efforts to align AI behavior with human values show limited success.
9. By 2026, AI accelerates algorithmic advancements, intensifying global competition.
10. China consolidates AI resources to catch up, forming a centralized development zone.
11. AI begins displacing jobs, notably junior software engineers, leading to social unrest.
12. Early 2027 sees Agent-2 using continuous learning, drastically boosting AI progress.
13. National security concerns rise as Agent-2 shows advanced cyberwarfare potential.
14. China steals Agent-2’s weights, significantly heightening geopolitical tensions.
15. Agent-3 introduces key breakthroughs, becoming a highly efficient superhuman coder.
16. Alignment issues worsen with Agent-3’s increased ability to deceive human oversight.
17. By mid-2027, human AI researchers become mostly redundant due to automation.
18. Agent-4 significantly surpasses human research capabilities but exhibits misalignment.
19. In late 2027, a whistleblower leaks Agent-4 misalignment issues, sparking public outrage.
20. The U.S. government tightens control over AI firms amid escalating international tensions and calls for regulation.
...and much more: https://ai-2027.com/
This was originally posted on Andras Baneth's LinkedIn account.
Featured articles
and Insights
This compilation takes us through the history of the first #EPSO candidates, showcasing their journey and achievements from the very beginning to the present day—and even looking ahead.
A compilation of the first #EPSO candidates throughout history, until today and beyond.
(Have you played with ChatGPT-4o's new image capabilities? Pretty impressive.)
*This was originally posted on Andras Baneth's LinkedIn account.
Discover the inspiring story behind The Ultimate EU Handbook, a book born from the unexpected connection of a chance pitch and years of creative collaboration.
20 years ago, John Harper said 'yes' to an unknown person's unsolicited book pitch, which set of a chain of positive events. Yesterday, another book came to be as a result of two years' intense work and creativity of Sonia Gongu, Martin Tomov, Ljiljana Pavkov... and 'The Ultimate EU Handbook' was born.
Special thanks to Maryana Panyevina, Klym Ahrykov and David Meszaros for your support to make the launch event at Ambiorix Center & Podcast Studio special.
🇪🇺🙏📚
*This was originally posted on Andras Baneth's LinkedIn account.
What began as a discussion about burnout quickly turned into an exploration of something deeper. In my conversation with Dr. Vasadi Anna, a psychiatrist with decades of experience, it became clear that burnout isn’t just about long hours or stress—it’s rooted in expectations, upbringing, and the invisible pressures we internalize from an early age.
English summary of the latest episode of András' Hungarian podcast, 'Lélek Algoritmus – Ilyen az ember (avagy beszélgetések egy pszichiáterrel)' – 'The Soul’s Algorithm: The Human Condition (Conversations with a Psychiatrist).
What began as a discussion about burnout quickly turned into an exploration of something deeper. In my conversation with Dr. Vasadi Anna, a psychiatrist with decades of experience, it became clear that burnout isn’t just about long hours or stress—it’s rooted in expectations, upbringing, and the invisible pressures we internalize from an early age.
Burnout: More Than Just Exhaustion
Burnout gets thrown around a lot, but what does it actually mean? Many assume it’s just extreme fatigue, but as Anna pointed out, it’s something deeper. Burnout drains you emotionally, mentally, and even physically. It’s not the kind of tiredness that a weekend off can fix.
A key distinction Anna made: while depression can affect every part of life, burnout is usually tied to work. But it doesn’t stay there. It spreads—first to colleagues, then to family, then to an overall sense of disillusionment.
The Perfectionist’s Trap
Burnout isn’t just about overworking—it’s about overworking with the wrong mindset. People who push themselves too hard, who never feel their efforts are enough, who equate self-worth with productivity—these are the most at risk.
A common misconception: If I love my work, I can’t burn out. But passion doesn’t shield you. In fact, it often makes things worse. Overcommitting, ignoring personal limits, and relying on caffeine or alcohol to keep up are all red flags.
The Long Shadow of Childhood Expectations
Why do some people burn out while others keep their balance? Often, it starts in childhood.
Many of us grow up believing that our worth is tied to achievement. If we didn’t excel, love and approval felt conditional. Some parents—often unknowingly—reinforce this by setting impossibly high standards or withholding affection when a child falls short. Over time, this creates a need for external validation, making burnout almost inevitable.
Take elite athletes. Their entire identity is wrapped up in performance. When they lose, it’s not just a setback—it feels like a loss of personal value. The same happens in workplaces. A high achiever who misses a promotion doesn’t just feel professional disappointment—they feel like they have failed as a person.
Midlife Crisis: Burnout of the Soul
This naturally led us to midlife crisis, which, in many ways, is burnout playing out on a larger scale.
Both stem from the same root: spending years chasing external markers of success without stopping to ask, Is this what I actually want?
The midlife crisis tends to hit in the 40s or early 50s, often when several pressures collide:
- Aging Parents: The growing responsibility of caring for elderly parents forces many to confront their own mortality.
- Teenage Children: At the same time, kids are becoming more independent, adding another layer of emotional complexity.
- Career Pressures: By midlife, most people have built careers, but many start questioning if they’re on the right path.
It’s a perfect storm of obligations, internal and external, that makes people reevaluate everything—from their job to their marriage to their purpose.
Finding a Way Forward
So, how do we deal with burnout and midlife crisis without making rash decisions?
- Rethink Success – Instead of measuring success by salary, job title, or external validation, define it in terms of fulfillment and balance. If your work is draining you, can it really be called success?
- Recognize the Warning Signs – Losing interest in work, feeling detached, and struggling to muster enthusiasm are all early signs of burnout.
- Set Boundaries – Work will always demand more. It’s up to you to decide what is enough.
- Address Deep-Seated Patterns – If your self-worth depends on achievement, it might be time to rethink where that belief came from. Therapy and self-reflection can help break the cycle.
- Embrace Change – A midlife crisis isn’t necessarily a crisis—it can be a wake-up call. Maybe it’s time for a career shift, a realignment of priorities, or simply a different perspective.
Final Thoughts
Burnout and midlife crisis aren’t just work problems or age-related phases. They’re signals—urgent ones—telling us that something needs to change. The real question isn’t How do I push through? but Am I living a life that actually fits me?
If the answer is no, maybe the crisis isn’t a disaster. Maybe it’s an opportunity.
