We built AI to save us from email, and it somehow made email even more soul-sucking
AI was introduced to reduce the burden of email by automating routine writing tasks, but it has instead contributed to an increase in low-quality, impersonal messages. The ease of generating corporate-sounding language has amplified unproductive communication habits, leading to what some call 'workslop.' Rather than saving time, AI often perpetuates the illusion of productivity through faster, longer, and more frequent emails.
- ▪AI was intended to reduce email workload by handling repetitive tasks.
- ▪Instead, it has lowered the effort needed to send impersonal, corporate-style emails.
- ▪Workers now face more 'workslop'—low-value content generated quickly by AI.
- ▪Email culture values responsiveness and activity, which AI amplifies by enabling faster replies and summaries.
- ▪AI sustains the appearance of productivity even when actual progress is minimal.
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Writing an email is already one of the more lifeless parts of modern work, so of course the tech industry decided to automate it. AI was meant to ease workloads by managing “grunt” work—dealing repetitive junk, trimming down inbox overload, and giving people their time back. It really sounded like the right idea. But in reality, we are nowhere close to removing the misery of email. The kind of email you’re already sick of seeing AI lowers the effort required to produce corporate-sounding language. That means every “just following up,” every “circling back,” every “gentle reminder,” and every “happy to connect” becomes even easier to generate and even harder to escape. Apple A person who might have skipped sending a pointless email before can now ask AI to draft one in seconds.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Digital Trends.
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