You get an email from AI instead of a human, problem?

2026-05-19

Getting an email from AI instead of a human is fine, as long as the data being passed along stays high quality. In day-to-day operational work, what was written and how it was written matters far more than who put their name on it.

Most routine tasks are essentially algorithmic

A lot of the tasks we do at work (and beyond), especially the routine, operational ones, are essentially algorithmic. What do I mean by that?

An employee receives a message (say, an offer by email, a request to prepare a report, a request to contact someone about a specific matter) and decides what to do with it. If the task that follows from the message falls within the employee’s responsibilities, and nothing stands in the way, they get on with it. There is rarely room for „I like it, I don’t like it, I want to, I don’t want to” in such decisions. We act in a binary way: I have everything I need, no competing priorities, I move forward. That is exactly what I mean by algorithmic execution.

The more complex the task, in particular when it involves human relationships, the more complex the algorithm behind it. In the everyday operational hustle, however, a significant share of tasks comes down to a simple processing of input data according to fixed, usually uncomplicated rules.

Data quality is what counts

Whether the task is performed by a human or by an algorithm (say, an AI), the data used in that task must be of good quality. The weaker the input, the higher the risk of a worse outcome. Caring about data quality is therefore central to the whole process. Everyone who generates that data must look after it:

Employee A → data → AI → data → Employee C

In many uncomplicated tasks that fill our daily routine, it does not matter whether the message with the assignment was sent by a human or by an algorithm. What matters above all is the quality of that message, not its author.

Yes, the fact that Anna sent the message and not ChatGPT still has weight, most of us simply enjoy working with other people more than with machines. There are also situations where authorship genuinely matters: legal liability, trust, the negotiation context, hierarchy inside an organisation.

Regardless of all that, the quality of the data exchanged between the stages of a process remains the critical thing.

What counts is the outcome, not the executor

Where am I going with this? Toward the idea that handing tasks over to artificial intelligence is becoming more and more common, and there is nothing wrong with that, as long as we can be sure the result is at least as good as if we had done it ourselves. I will go further, if statistically AI makes fewer mistakes than we do, we should actively hand the task over. Remember, in many cases it does not matter for the process who performs it, what matters is how efficiently it is performed.

Let us get used to tasks performed by AI.

AI assistants will become the standard

In the future, most of us will have our own AI assistant, and that assistant will be able to create and use any number of sub-assistants of its own. Assistants will take care of most things for us, saving time and energy.

How can I be sure that is where we are heading?

Well, more and more people are already working surrounded by assistants and agents. I am one of them. At Element I manage an entire team of artificial intelligences delegated to different jobs. They are not brilliant yet, they are not reliable yet, but they are already doing work for me that, I would guess, is worth several full-time positions.

That does not mean everyone should revolutionise their workflow today, and not everyone has the option (no AI allowed at work, for example). I like experimenting, building, and I am a tech enthusiast, so I probably belong to the smaller group that is blazing the trail. But I can see very clearly where that trail is heading: AI will become a companion to most of us, doing most of our daily work. Mental work first, and in the longer run physical work as well.

AI will not replace emotions or passion

For the sake of clarity, I am not an advocate of AI replacing us in every activity. Doing our duties is one thing, our emotions, passions and desires are another. The latter we should look after ourselves and reach for under our own steam. Let us push ourselves, mentally and physically, otherwise we will only grow weaker.

P.S. If this topic interests you, I wrote a longer piece some time ago answering a similar question: „Is it okay to use ChatGPT content as my own words?“. The short answer, sometimes it is.