When Lech Mintowt-Czyz wrote speeches for Ben van Beurden, part of his job was helping the then chief executive of Shell emotionally connect with audiences in a way he was not used to.

The oil and gas company was under pressure from activist investors and campaigners for its role in enabling climate change and whenever van Beurden spoke, it was “a very fine series of delicate judgment calls”, says Mintowt-Czyz. It took a long time to build a relationship with van Beurden and gain his trust. 

Speechwriters such as Mintowt-Czyz are now facing a new set of pressures as generative artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT and GPT-4 promise to create compelling speeches based on simple subject and style prompts and the input of some key quotes. Other tools have sprung up to help with delivery, such as analysing voice recordings or live speeches to detect emotion and assess their impact.