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Your AI-Written Email Is Costing You Trust

By Derek Zardus ·

Last week I wrote to a colleague. A native speaker. We have worked together for six years.

The answers came back immediately. Polished. Polite. Correct.

And it did not feel like six years. It felt like writing to a very friendly stranger.

I can't prove how those replies were written. But the feeling was real, and that is the point: your reader can feel when you are missing from your message.

Here is my uncomfortable opinion: for non-native speakers, AI is a gift and a trap. It fixes your grammar in three seconds. It also removes the one thing your reader wanted, which is you.

The Robot Has a Voice (And It's Boring)

AI tools write in a very polite, very flat style. Everything is "valuable", every message "hopes this finds you well", and every idea has "key takeaways". Readers learn to spot it fast, and they stop reading carefully.

The fix is not to stop using AI. The fix is to use it as your editor, not your ghostwriter. You write the first version, even in simple English. AI polishes. Then you read it aloud and ask one question: Would I say this to her face?

If the answer is no, change it.

Three Makeovers

1. The opening

✗ "I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to inform you regarding the status of the project."
✓ "Quick update on the project: we are two days late, and here is why."

Why it works: The first version takes 20 words to say nothing. The second one respects your reader's time.

2. The bad news

✗ "Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, we may potentially experience certain delays."
✓ "We will miss the deadline by two days. The supplier sent the parts late."

Why it works: "May potentially" is a fog machine. Say what happened. Then say what you will do.

3. The request

✗ "Please find attached the document for your kind review and valuable feedback at your earliest convenience."
✓ "Could you check the attached budget by Thursday? I need your OK before the Friday meeting."

Why it works: A date, a task, a reason. Your reader knows exactly what to do. (Nobody has ever replied to "at your earliest convenience" with "Of course, right away!")

Trend Watch: Faster Is the New Normal (And It Hurts)

AI has changed what bosses expect. In an August 2026 survey of 2,000 U.S. workers by WalkMe, 51% said AI had led their manager or team to expect more output in the same amount of time.

Read that again. The tool saves time, and then the time disappears into a bigger to-do list.

Here is the language problem hiding inside the trend. When your workload grows, you need to say no, not yet, or not like this, politely and clearly. Many people in a second language stay silent or say "yes, of course" to everything. That is how burnout starts. So this week's upgrade is about protecting your time.

English Upgrade: Say "No" Without Starting a War

✗ "I can't do this."
✓ "I can do this by Friday, or I can do that by Wednesday. Which is the priority?"

✗ "This is impossible."
✓ "This is a challenge with the current timeline. Here is what I can realistically deliver."

✗ "Sorry, sorry, I am very busy."
✓ "I'm at capacity this week. Can we look at next Monday?"

Notice the pattern: no apology, one option, one question. You sound organized, not difficult.

This Week's Micro Goal

Choose one email you write this week. Write it yourself first, in short sentences. If you use AI, ask it to "make this shorter, keep my tone, don't add new ideas." Then delete one polite phrase that does nothing ("I hope this email finds you well").

Count how many words you saved. Beat that number next week.

Executive Language Toolkit

  • Straightforward: simple and clear, with no confusing parts. Collocation: a straightforward process. "The instructions were straightforward, so the whole team finished in an hour."
  • Flag: to point out a problem or important issue. Collocation: flag a risk. "Please flag any delays to me as early as possible."
  • Workload: the amount of work you have to do. Collocation: a heavy workload. "My workload doubled when two colleagues left."
  • Streamline: to make a process simpler and faster. Collocation: streamline the approval process. "We streamlined onboarding, so new hires start in two days."
  • Prompt: the instruction you give to an AI tool. Collocation: write a clear prompt. "A better prompt gave us a much better first draft."
  • Advice / advise: advice is the noun (you give advice), advise is the verb (I advise you to wait). "My advice is to wait. I advise you not to sign yet."

Office Idioms and Expressions

  • Cut corners: to do something quickly and less carefully to save time or money. Neutral, but negative. "We cut corners on testing and paid for it later."
  • Raise the bar: to set a higher standard. Neutral. "The new CEO raised the bar for every department."
  • Fly under the radar: to stay unnoticed. Informal. "The problem flew under the radar for months." Don't use it about your own boss's mistakes in writing.
  • Take it with a grain of salt: to not fully believe something. Informal. "AI summaries are useful, but take them with a grain of salt."
  • A ballpark figure: a rough estimate. Informal, from baseball. "Can you give me a ballpark figure for the budget?"

Mistake Clinic

Mistake: "I am agree with you." / Fix: "I agree with you." (In English, agree is a verb. No "am".)

Mistake: "I look forward to hear from you." / Fix: "I look forward to hearing from you." (After look forward to, use -ing.)

This lesson first appeared in The Well-Spoken Executive on LinkedIn.