In the wild · written in your inbox
"This email feels off"
30-second gist~30s read
A growing share of the email you receive is partly or wholly written by AI. Most of it is harmless — autocomplete on steroids. Some of it is a scam dressed up to look professional, made cheaper and easier than ever before.
The clue is rarely a single tell. It's a vibe: too polished, oddly bland, weirdly thorough about flattery, then a sudden ask.
If you want more
The vibe of an AI-written email
It opens with a flattering line that's slightly too specific to be casual. It uses three short paragraphs, a structured pitch, and ends with a clear call to action. Em-dashes show up — like this. The grammar is flawless. The tone is friendly without being warm. It's the email equivalent of a stock photo: nothing wrong with it, nothing real about it either.
None of that proves an email is malicious. Plenty of legitimate businesses now use AI to draft outreach. The point is calibration — you're allowed to feel sceptical of the message even when the prose is perfect.
Phishing in 2026
For decades, the easiest tell of a scam email was bad English. AI has erased that tell. A scammer in any country can now send a convincing letter from "your bank" or "the tax office" in any language. The defence has shifted: assume the writing is fine, judge the email on what it's asking. A click? An attachment? A login? Treat those with the same caution you would in any era.