How to make emails sound human with the growing use of AI tools

"Composing emails has never been easier. AI assistants can craft messages with very little guidance from, you know, real human beings. But now some real human beings worry that emails are reading a little too perfect. And as NPR's Chloe Veltman reports, that's a concern shared by some of those working in tech. Email assistants have taken over our inboxes. The AI-powered tools can do things like compose messages in response to simple prompts and complete people's sentences."

"PETER SLEIMAN: I sometimes do little typos on purpose if I want to seem human. VELTMAN: This is Peter Sleiman. He's the creative director of a video agency. SLEIMAN: Forgetting a dot or maybe misspelling a word, maybe adding a smiley face the old way instead of actual emoji like ChatGPT does. I could add the two dots with a parenthesis."

"AI-assisted email is big business, too. The market for robo-missives is expected to grow to more than $4.5 billion by 2029. However, a recent Columbia University study reveals that more than half of spam emails are written by AI, and that's one reason why some tech workers are worried their AI-assisted emails will be treated as such for seeming too machine-like."

AI assistants make composing emails easy by crafting messages with minimal human input. The market for AI-assisted email is projected to exceed $4.5 billion by 2029. A Columbia University study finds that more than half of spam emails are written by AI. Some tech workers fear that AI-polished messages will be mistaken for machine-generated spam or seem unnaturally perfect. Some professionals intentionally introduce typos, punctuation quirks, or old-style emoticons to appear more human. Other professionals prefer clean grammar and correct spelling, saying errors can obscure intended meaning and reduce credibility. The tension appears in digital marketing and tech conferences.

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