Ever since the introduction of the ChatGPT API, numerous applications have integrated AI functionality into their platforms. One area where this integration is particularly prominent is in email clients, such as Spark and Canary, which proudly highlight their built-in AI capabilities.
The primary features offered by these AI-powered email clients include automated replies and the generation of full emails based on a given prompt. Some even provide the ability to summarize lengthy emails or threads. While these features may seem like a great idea in theory, I believe that their integration into communication platforms often hinders efficiency rather than enhancing it. While it can be fun to experiment with these features, it is important to keep realistic expectations about their life-changing effects. Let me explain why.
The challenges we face with overwhelming amounts of email and communication, in general, are not solely technological issues but are deeply rooted in social problems. It is easy to attribute the problem solely to technology because it occurs on screens, but the true nature of the problem goes beyond that.
Saying that we receive too many emails can be accurate, but it could also be interpreted as more people trying to contact us than we can mentally handle. Attempting to solve social problems through technological means often ends up creating new social challenges.
Related Post
To illustrate this point, let’s consider a scenario where instead of composing an email myself to invite you for beers, I use ChatGPT to write it for me. The resulting email is 220 words long and includes an introduction, an explanation of why we should have beers together, and some fabricated details about creating a comfortable atmosphere with snacks to complement our beer tasting experience.
Upon receiving such a lengthy email, most people would feel overwhelmed and might even use AI tools on their end to summarize it. When I tried using ChatGPT to summarize the email, it essentially gave me back my original prompt in a single sentence: “Would you like to come over for beers?”
In this context, AI serves a dual role similar to alcohol, as the renowned philosopher Homer Simpson once described it: it creates a problem (excessively long emails) and then offers a solution (email summarization). It is like an ouroboros, a snake consuming its own tail—a technology that exists partly to address the issues it has caused.
In my opinion, it is more beneficial to examine the cultural assumptions underlying our reluctance to write concise emails rather than resorting to unnecessarily complex technological solutions. Instead, we should question the cultural forces that make us believe we cannot simply write a one-sentence email and consider whether we can ignore those forces for the sake of better communication.
Cultural problems are undoubtedly more challenging to address than technological ones. While we can start sending one-sentence emails immediately, some people might perceive it as rude or at least unconventional. However, individuals and organizations striving for improved efficiency should reflect on these cultural aspects, unless they genuinely desire a bot pretending to know the contents of their fridge.
Furthermore, we must acknowledge that we do not yet fully understand the contexts in which AI will work best. A personal anecdote exemplifying this uncertainty is my experience with a friend named Kay-Kay and our months-long ritual of using LinkedIn’s conversational auto-recommendations. For some inexplicable reason, this professional network offers suggested replies to messages, and we found it consistently amusing.
All in all, while AI integration into email clients may seem promising, it is crucial to recognize the complexity of the communication challenges we face. Instead of solely relying on advanced technologies, it is important to question the cultural norms and assumptions that play a significant role in shaping our communication habits. By doing so, we can strive for more efficient and effective communication practices, ultimately leading to improved productivity and satisfaction.
