Using AI for Communication

In business communication - or really anywhere people interact for shared understanding, it feels like AI is starting to become the default mode of communication. It takes a couple of sentences or paragraphs to catch it, but ultimately you realize the writing ends up saying nothing. I’ve never been a great writer so I rarely critiqued other people’s writing in the past. We talk a lot about AI slop in code, but I don’t think enough attention has been paid to AI slop in communication. The quality bar is not “Does this sound professional?” It’s “Did this efficiently convey information to the reader?”

I’m not opposed to using AI in writing because there are a lot of valid use cases. I have read emails and texts that have clearly gone through a translation service and to me, that is a great use case. This post is not about those use cases where AI is legitimately helpful.

Where I run into problems with using AI for writing is when it’s clear the author hasn’t thought about - or even read - what they are passing off as their thoughts. In these more professional settings, when you are communicating with a clear intent in mind, AI slop is a trust killer. It really changes the way that you end up interacting with the document.

I instantly start to second-guess the author’s judgment. I look at the document completely differently. Where before I would judge something at face value, now I am wondering does the author even believe this? Do they know it has subtle conflicts in the proposal? If I’m struggling to understand something, does the author think they are presenting it in the clearest way possible? How should I engage with the author on this? Should I actually critique specific parts, or just send it back to the author and tell them it’s slop?

I still put my writing through AI to check for grammar mistakes, unclear sentences, run- ons, etc. What I don’t do is have AI do my writing for me, and I’d highly recommend you don’t either. When I write, I intend for it to be read by other humans. If AI can understand it too, that’s just an added bonus. Good writing has always been about catering to your audience, and at work, it’s more important than ever.