A couple of weeks ago, in one of my Communications classes, we discussed how to write an effective email. Initially, my students responded to the topic with a level of enthusiasm that can best be described as contained. Very contained—imperceptible, really. Not surprisingly, the subject of using Generative AI as a time-saver came up. Why, my students wanted to know, did they need to learn how to write an effective email when AI exists?

Leaving aside for the moment the many valid ethical concerns around AI, I thought this was a reasonable enough question to address. The answer, I told them, lay in the premise of the lesson: learning how to write an effective email.

When it comes to writing, generative AI can be a bit of a shady used-car salesperson.

You know the type: someone whose ruthless determination to make a sale compels them to promise the impossible. You give them your laundry list of requirements, and miraculously, they just happen to have a vehicle in stock that exactly fits your specifications.