The effect of Artifical Intelligence within the customer space

Generative AI in Customer Communication: What Worries Me

There’s something I need to get off my chest.

I’ve spent years in customer-facing roles. Face-to-face, video, and phone. With generative AI booming, something has been stuck in my mind. Don’t get me wrong.. I love it. I use it daily to structure emails, brainstorm, meal prep, even to role-play conversations. I talk about AI like I am wingmanning my friend at the club.

But here’s the problem.

I worry about how people use generative AI in customer communication. Especially those who don’t live with it every day. For many, it’s just a shiny tool they test a few times a week. And that’s fine.. until they start copying AI-generated text straight into emails with customers.

If you use AI regularly, you start to notice the patterns. The overly polished tone. The exaggerated phrasing. The constant use of extreme words. It sounds perfect, but not quite human. Once you notice, I just don't think that you will be able to unhear it.

When customer-facing staff send messages that read like a chatbot, the whole meaning of customer-facing.. collapses. You’re no longer speaking with a customer, I honestly think you’re outsourcing the connection. That haunts me.

How to Use AI Without Losing the Human

AI can absolutely improve your communication skills if you treat it as a support tool, not a replacement. A few ways to do that:

1. Use AI for structure, not tone
   Let it build the skeleton of your message and create those clear sections, bullet points, subject lines that are boring, annoying and takes time! Then rewrite in your own voice.

2. Run drafts through AI as a mirror
   Paste your text in and ask: “Does this sound overly formal or robotic?” Use the feedback, but don’t let AI decide the final wording. With AI's getting even smarter and smarter aswell, you can attach an essay or a text you've written in the style of your voice, and just ask it to match that tone. Maybe it sounds good? But be critical.

3. Borrow ideas, not entire paragraphs
   If you like a phrase, adapt it. Those "smarter" customers will notice when the rhythm of your writing suddenly shifts into “AI-speak.” Trust me.

4. Use it to create templates
   I'm all about saving time and working more efficiently, I love creating templates that you just copy and paste when you are getting those FAQ. Just don't forget to match the customers energy and align it to the customers email, because you are not always gonna get the exact same writing from the customer.

Generative AI should make you a sharper and more efficient communicator, not a blander one. The point of customer communication for me is to be personal. We're all humans after all.