Overreliance on AI can distance people from their own ideas, judgments, and work.

AI can improve writing efficiency, but it can also make individual writing styles more similar.

AI-generated personal messages may be perceived as less sincere than human-written ones.

AI works best as an assistant, not as a substitute for human voice, ownership, or connection.

I recently had to call a local plumbing company. When they answered, I was pretty sure I was talking to AI. It was very human-like, certainly not robotic. But there was just enough peculiarity in the spacing between some words that made me think, “this is not a real person.” My immediate, visceral reaction was, “ick!”

It almost made me angry. I wanted to challenge the voice, demanding, “You aren’t even real, are you?!” While I was about 80 percent sure I was speaking to AI, the nagging 20 percent that maybe it was just an awkward human prevented me from saying something rude.

Reflecting on that experience made me examine how I use AI to help me wordsmith an email or create infographics and fliers. I’ve used AI to help my productivity in ways that may have detracted from my own unique, imperfect “humanness.”

And while generative AI can be an amazing tool, where’s the line between it being an amazing assistant and it going a little bit too far?

Three Things AI Can Quietly Take Away From Workplace Communications

Many people have turned to AI for crafting emails. It can do so quickly and efficiently with a polished feel.

Contrast this with a human experience. I remember one of my first times as chair of a hiring committee, when an unsuccessful candidate reached out asking for feedback. I wanted to be helpful, but I also needed to be careful about what I........

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