AI agents are killing cold outreach by erasing the signal value of personalization

soumitrashukla9 · x · 2026-09-13

Arvind Narayanan (@randomwalker) argues AI agents have destroyed the signal mechanism of cold outreach: the once-sharp line between unpersonalized mass emails and messages written specifically for you is gone, since AI can cheaply mass-produce emails that appear deeply knowledgeable about each recipient. Anna Stansbury adds that many informal social processes rely on the signal value of time spent writing something personalized — a value AI is eroding.

Related event: Princeton professor says AI-generated cold emails are destroying outreach signals(3 posts)→

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