Summary Automation is of fundamental importance to the study of communication. Communication is being automated. But automation is also a process which relies on media of communication. In the context of communication studies, it is useful to develop a dual perspective which elaborates both the automation of communication as well as the communication of automation. Communication includes within it the meanings of the transmission of information and mean, as well as spatial movement and economic transaction. As artificial intelligence continues to advance in sophistication, it offers new modalities in which automation and communication are interrelated.