By Amy Greenan, CF APMP
What APMP Professionals Need to Know About Artificial Intelligence
If you’re an APMP member, you’re no stranger to change. From shifting client expectations to evolving procurement practices, our field never stands still. But nothing has disrupted the proposal profession quite like the rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI).
All the sudden, AI is everywhere – content creation, compliance checks, scheduling, even proposal scoring. As professionals committed to best practices and continual improvement, we have to ask: Is AI a strategic advantage, or a potential threat to our roles?
The Value AI Brings to the Proposal Process
For many APMP professionals, AI is already a trusted collaborator. Here’s how:
- Speed and efficiency: AI can generate first-draft content, analyze RFPs, and flag compliance gaps—all in minutes.
- Content reuse and knowledge management: Tools with AI-enabled search and tagging help teams surface the right content, fast.
- Quality control: Some platforms use AI to review grammar, tone, and consistency, helping ensure proposals align with brand and client expectations.
- Strategic insights: AI can support win theme development, competitor analysis, and even predict proposal outcomes using historical data.
But It’s Not Plug-and-Play
AI isn’t a cure-all. Proposal teams must weigh the risks:
- Accuracy concerns: AI-generated content must always be reviewed. It can’t replace subject matter expertise or customer insight.
- Data security: RFPs and proposals often contain sensitive data. Not all AI platforms are built with compliance and confidentiality in mind.
- Job impact anxiety: Some fear automation will replace human writers, coordinators, and strategists. But the reality is more nuanced.
AI as a Force Multiplier—Not a Replacement
The APMP community thrives on professionalism, collaboration, and value-driven practices. When used wisely, AI enhances—not diminishes—these values:
- Proposal managers can automate low-value tasks and focus on strategy and storytelling.
- Writers can leverage AI to brainstorm, refine, and tailor content—faster and smarter.
- Coordinators and compliance leads can use AI for version control, formatting, and error-checking, ensuring cleaner submissions.
Upskilling for the AI Era
AI isn’t replacing us. It’s changing how we work. That means new skills are essential:
- Understanding prompt engineering for better outputs.
- Knowing how to vet AI tools for ethical and secure use.
- Learning how to balance automation with human judgment, especially when it comes to persuasion and customer focus.
Final Word
As APMP professionals, we’re built to adapt. AI may be new territory, but our core mission hasn’t changed: win more, win better, and win ethically.
Let’s lead the change—together.
***
Fellow APMP members, I must confess: This is the first time I have used ChatGPT to help me complete a task. Surprise! The prompt I put into it was “Help me write a blog post about an issue relevant to proposal professionals.” Funny enough, the topic ended up being what I had been thinking about writing – is ChatGPT psychic as well? (Don’t answer that. I don’t want to know.)
I’ll be honest. After finding a place in a profession that I truly love and feel secure in, I’ve been nervous about the rise of AI in the workplace. Will our skills be rendered redundant, or even useless? Can I make it to retirement before that happens? Obviously, ChatGPT’s output here shows us how we still need human intelligence, experience, and knowledge to assure that it is accurate and makes sense. So, good! We’ve seen new technologies time and again shift the workforce as much as it replaces it.
In the end what I found most valuable from ChatGPT was not having to start with a blank slate. It gave me a sound structure to work with, and room for me to edit and fine tune. The “conversation” you can have with it means that you still have to use your brain. You are the one setting the parameters.
I like what my manager had to say on the topic after I shared my experience with her – we can grieve the way things used to be. But we shouldn’t let us hold us back from growth and progress. We just need to do it thoughtfully!
Amy Greenan, CF APMP
Creative Proposal Professional
I’m a creative professional who has found a calling in proposals, which allows me to use my full range of skills and knowledge: writing and editing, graphic design, people-wrangling, collecting and organizing information, communication, and more.
In addition to my extensive administrative and managerial experience in various industries (GIS, AEC, environmental services, publishing, transportation, security, and hospitality), I worked for many years as a professional graphic designer and art director, fine artist (exhibition, sales, marketing, grant writing) and educator (college level and community orgs). All this gives me a unique perspective and a set of skills that make me a Jax of many trades – and master of at least a couple! I am also an advocate for the environment, and I am one course away from completing an AS degree in Environmental Studies to add to my knowledge base.
Outside work, I am an enthusiastic improvisational quilter who is also very interested in its history and its potential as a meditative practice and art form. I am also an exhibiting painter (on indefinite, intermittent hiatus).
