Why Your AI Emails Sound Robotic (And How to Fix It)
A tech leader's practical comparison of AI models for email writing - from warm team communications to formal stakeholder updates
✉️ Tried AI for emails but gave up? You're probably using the wrong model. Here's which AI tools ACTUALLY work for different email styles…
TL;DR
🏆 Best (and free!) AI models for emails:
- 🤗 Warm & human-like → Claude 3.7 Sonnet
- 👔 Formal & professional → Gemini 2.5 Pro
- 😊 Casual & friendly → Grok 3 with [Think]
Just write "Reply with:" + bullet points of what to include, then paste the email to respond to. The AIs are available for free!
What Wastes the Most Time
⏱️ Here's what wastes the most time when using AI for emails:
Rewriting parts that look artificial.
Fixing unnatural wording and punctuation.
Instructing it to get the style you want.
It takes effort to instruct and then redact. And that's exactly what we want to avoid.
3-Step Drafting Workflow
Say, you got an email from your team member explaining in a semi-informal style that they're experiencing burnout. They're asking you if you can shuffle the tasks around to give them some breathing room.
📋 Here's how to draft your reply quickly:
Pick the appropriate AI model.
Write something like this:
Reply with:
- [a list of short points that need to be included]
---
[the email you got]
If you're writing a new email, use "Write an email to [name]:" instead. No need for instructions about style or signature - the right AI model handles that automatically.
How Model Choice Impacts The Outcome
Now, what you'll get will heavily depend on the AI model. For example, let's say one of your points to reply with was: "Emphasize he's still a key part of the team".
ChatGPT 4o (the default model) writes something like:
"You're still a key part of the team, and this doesn't change that one bit."
- Rather ambiguous whether he should worry less or worry more...
Gemini 2.5 Pro writes something like:
"Please know that you're a key part of this team, and your well-being is important."
- Formal, leaves no doubt that he should worry less.
Claude 3.7 Sonnet writes something like:
"Please know that you're still a key part of our team, and your contributions are valued. Sometimes we all need to step back and recalibrate."
- Goes the extra mile to be kind.
AI Model Comparison
📊 Here's the summary of what you'll get from which model (non-ChatGPT ones are available for free!):
ChatGPT 4o → brief, slightly robotic, good punctuation. No signature.
ChatGPT 4.5/o3/o4 → brief, somewhat kind, often with uncommon punctuation.
Grok 3 → useless - hardly rewritten points packed into one paragraph.
Grok 3 with [Think] → friendly, informal, uncommon punctuation.
Gemini 2.5 models → formal, corporate-like, good punctuation (Pro is less distant).
Le Chat Free → formal, distant, good punctuation.
Claude 3.7 Sonnet → friendly, kind, human-like warmth, good punctuation.
Claude 4 Sonnet → friendly, kind, human-like warmth, some uncommon punctuation.
💡 Keep in mind that models change over time. Just a few weeks ago, ChatGPT 4o was noticeably more robotic.
Join the Conversation
Hope this helps you save more time when writing emails!
I'd love to hear about your experiences. I prefer to be friendly and human-like ;), so my go-to is Claude 3.7 Sonnet. What worked and what didn't for you?