Multiple startups are building toward this reality. Matt Schumer, a serial entrepreneur, sat in front of his computer in 2019, years before the ChatGPT phenomenon, responding to an influx of emails from partners and customers and investors; it all felt a little overwhelming. So, when OpenAI released its GPT-2 model to the public, Matt wondered whether it could be used as a productivity tool. 

He scraped the information from his inbox and trained a model on the data. “Then, I asked it to write some new ones for me,” Schumer says. “I was immediately blown away by what I saw.” This experience put him on the path to becoming cofounder and CEO of OthersideAI. It’s the company behind HyperWrite, a generative AI tool for composing entire paragraphs and rewriting complicated sentences.

Despite visions of a future with full self-writing email software, most marketers and CEOs we interviewed admitted the technology was not yet at a high-enough caliber to be trusted with complete control of your inbox. Philippe Lehoux, a CEO of the workplace communication company Missive, says, “This technology will improve, but anyone right now aiming at using AI to replace themselves and do automatic responses is pretty much delusional.” John Humphrey, a head of data platform product at Mailchimp, compares generative AI to an intern who may pitch some stellar ideas, but whom you wouldn’t let spearhead a major campaign.

Well then, what is it good at? In addition to drafting replies, two other emergent use cases for AI in email are shifting tones and brainstorming potential subject lines. Sure, generative AI can rephrase your emails to sound like Jerry Seinfeld. With alternative prompting, it can also draft messages that are more direct or serious or apologetic. Make sure to proofread everything before hitting “reply all,” because large language models continue to have a penchant for hallucination.

AI tools can be used to analyze data from top-tier email subject lines—those with impressive open rates or sales conversions—and spit out a hundred good ideas. “The principles of what makes a good subject line? AI didn’t change that. It just makes it easier to produce that,” says Humphrey. It remains up to the marketer to divine which angle is the best fit for their customer base.

Business leaders should be cognizant of the thorny controversies around AI-generated text, in order to avoid alienating email recipients. Vanderbilt University apologized after using ChatGPT to message students about a shooting at Michigan State University. How could an administrator think this would be acceptable? People who approach generative AI as a tool to unlock the unique words needed during difficult conversations may misunderstand the technology’s strengths. It predicts next steps and generalizes the human experience, which is great for understanding potential buyers, but not so great for connecting with those in mourning.

“We all see such generic messages every day,” says Distel from Jasper. “So, how can we break through the noise, and say something that gets your wheels turning?” Well, you’ve got my wheels spinning. I’m just not sure where this wild ride will come to a stop.