A client told me recently that something subtle had changed in his organization.

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The emails had become colder.

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He noticed fewer personalized greetings, if any at all. There was no small talk. Messages went straight to the point. They were efficient, certainly, but they lacked warmth. The small signals that once conveyed attention, appreciation, or simple human presence had quietly disappeared.

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No more “Hope you’re well.”

No more “Thanks for your help.”

No more human texture.

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At first, he wondered whether he was imagining things. So he decided to test his intuition. Since his company had already begun integrating AI into its workflows, it was relatively easy for him to analyze his own email correspondence over the past year.

 

The result confirmed what he had sensed. The communication had indeed become less personal.

 

But why?

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One possible explanation is that people are increasingly interacting with systems where tone plays little or no role. In such environments, clarity and efficiency are rewarded, while nuance and relational signals are secondary. Over time, this may begin to influence how people communicate with each other. Instead of humans teaching machines to sound more human, we may gradually be adapting our own communication to resemble the systems we use.

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Another possibility is more direct. Some of these messages may already be partially or fully generated by AI, which, despite ongoing improvements, tends to prioritize structure and clarity over genuine relational depth.

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Either way, something is shifting.

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Recent research suggests that this shift is not isolated. A 2026 Harvard Business Review analysis of emerging workplace trends highlights a growing tension between ambitious expectations for AI-driven productivity and the still limited, and often uneven, returns organizations are currently experiencing . At the same time, organizations are under increasing pressure to move faster, become more efficient, and demonstrate measurable results.

 

This creates a familiar dynamic. High expectations. Uneven outcomes. And growing pressure on people to bridge that gap.

In this environment, subtle forms of cultural dissonance begin to emerge. And they often appear first in places that seem almost trivial.

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Emails are one of them.

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When communication becomes purely functional, something else begins to recede. Tone, context, and relationship are gradually reduced to what is strictly necessary. What is lost is not dramatic, but cumulative.

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And over time, that accumulation matters because communication is not only about information. It is also about connection. It signals intent, builds trust, and maintains the relational fabric that allows organizations to function beyond formal structures.

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When that fabric thins, the effects are rarely immediate but they are real.

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We have seen similar patterns before.

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A decade ago, concepts such as agile, scrum, and new organizational models promised greater flexibility, responsiveness, and innovation. Many organizations adopted them with considerable energy. Some achieved meaningful transformation. Others encountered friction, particularly where these models did not align with existing structures, cultures, or ways of working.

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In hindsight, the lesson was not that these ideas were flawed, but that their impact depended heavily on context and integration.

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Organizations do not simply adopt ideas. They absorb them through culture, systems, and people. And that process takes time.

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When that time is underestimated, imbalances begin to appear. Change moves faster than understanding. Expectations outpace capability. Efficiency gains come at the cost of connection.

 

Caught up in the momentum of transformation, organizations can begin to optimize for what is easily measurable, often without fully recognizing what is being diminished in the process.

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This is not a new phenomenon. But AI is accelerating it.

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Beyond questions of productivity and automation, it is quietly reshaping how we communicate, how we relate to one another, and how we experience work itself.

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Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends report emphasizes that long-term performance increasingly depends not only on technological capability, but on the quality of human interaction, judgment, and collaboration within organizations. Similarly, McKinsey’s research on organizational performance highlights that many companies are still struggling to translate technological adoption into meaningful business outcomes, often due to gaps in integration, leadership alignment, and cultural readiness.

 

Taken together, these insights point to a deeper question.

If communication becomes faster, leaner, and more optimized, what exactly are we optimizing for?

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Efficiency is improving. That much is clear. But if, in the process, communication becomes colder, more transactional, and less human, then something essential may be eroding beneath the surface.

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Not visibly. Not immediately, but gradually. Perhaps that is where we need to look more closely, not only at what AI enables, but at how it changes the way we relate to one another.

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— Chris Newman

Newman Seminars | Leadership, Communication & Change

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