Playful AI in Professional Email: A Field Experiment on Tone and Recipient Engagement
Large language models (LLMs) are rapidly reshaping workplace communication, yet whether AI-assisted writing changes how recipients actually behave, and through what channel, remains unknown. Here, in a randomized crossover field experiment, 121 employees across six companies sent work emails under three conditions over three weeks: unaided writing, GPT-5 rewriting in a playful tone, and GPT-5 rewriting in a professional tone. Across 16,880 emails, playful editing increased emotional positivity (B=+0.068, p<0.001), and professional editing decreased it (B=-0.041, p<0.001), yet neither condition directly altered open rates, reply rates, or response times. Instead, within-sender positivity s...
| Authors | Ziv Ben-Zion, Teddy Lazebnik |
|---|---|
| Primary category | cs.AI |
| Published | 13 July 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 13 July 2026 |
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