Editor's Synopsis
Arvind Narayanan observes that AI agents are eroding the effectiveness of cold outreach. Writing from the perspective of someone who receives dozens of unsolicited emails daily, he notes that the once-clear distinction between unpersonalized mass emails and genuine, thoughtful individual messages is rapidly disappearing. The implication is that AI tools now enable senders to generate highly personalized-looking messages at scale, making it nearly impossible for recipients to distinguish authentic outreach from automated spam.
This raises important questions about trust and signal quality in professional communication. As AI lowers the cost of producing convincing personalized messages, the value of cold outreach diminishes for everyone — both for recipients overwhelmed by sophisticated spam and for legitimate senders whose genuine efforts get lost in the noise.