Hey bestie,
If we were in a group chat, this is what would've kept our notifications buzzing 👇️
Today’s focus: the Claude watermark.
Humans have been in a bit of swirl this week over news that Anthropic is adding a watermark to text that has been written, edited or processed by Claude. The watermark is the words themselves so they survive a copy/paste or retyping. Details are murky.
Knowing what we know today, here’s why I don’t want you to panic:
A mark doesn't prove Claude generated it and may be added to content “processed” by Claude (like translating, summarizing, proofreading).
Detection isn't live yet. Anthropic has committed to helping users and third parties detect the marks, but the technical details are still "forthcoming."
But this forces AI transparency, and this is a good thing. And another way comms can lead in an AI age.
Let’s dig in. There is an annoying dichotomy in the AI-in-the-enterprise conversation that goes something like this:
🙌 “We are an AI-first company, we believe in the power of AI to transform our business, we’re doing these layoffs because we’re so efficient with AI, invest in us and our product is the best!”
🙅♀ And also: “OMG did you just use AI to do/write/create that?! SHAME!”
So here’s what you’re going to do.
You’re not going to be nervous about how you’re using AI. You’re going to make it your next competitive differentiator.
You are going to create two policies (for lack of a better word).
🙋 Your personal AI operating doc.
What you do and don't use AI for. You update it regularly. You're clear about your AI use. You're solid in your principles (human in the loop, no automated pitching, etc.). Link to it in your internal and/or external emails. You're using AI (so is everyone!), and now you're transparent about where it plays a role in your workflow.💼 Your company AI philosophy. For writing, coding, design, etc.
This is your new brand promise. Design it around your virtues and values. It reflects and promotes the culture of the brand. If you're all about natural beauty like Aerie, this is your chance to say "we'll never use AI models" (as in supermodels, not AI models... this is getting confusing). If you're an AI upstart, it shows your prowess in building and using AI-native systems. Check out this example from Clay and mine for Off the Record.
Now you don't have to worry about getting "caught" using Claude. You've been clear about how you do and don't use AI.
And now, a few quick links to close out the group chat:
📊 PR Daily asked comms pros whether they should report to the CEO or someone else. I'll give you one guess what the consensus was ;) (As for me, I had a contrarian take that got me... the last quote in the article.)
🏆 In the most unsurprising news ever, Richard Edelman was named to the 2026 PRWeek Power List.
💼 OTR bestie and RemotePRJobs founder Andrea Holland is running a Labor Day special: $19/month for curated remote and freelance comms opps.
Chat soon,
Gab Ferree
Founder & Your Comms BFF, Off the Record
PS: Last week’s most-clicked was WSJ’s Patrick Coffee’s list of the worst AI slopfenders.
PPS: I updated my AI disclosure this week to add that I use AI to generate some creative graphics based on my human-created brand guidelines.
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