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Source note2 min read

Playful AI in Professional Email: A Field Experiment on Tone and Recipient Engagement

Source

arXiv

arxiv.org/abs/2607.11749v1

Read the source

Source

Plain-Language Brief

A study found that using a playful tone in work emails generated by GPT-5 increased emotional positivity in responses, while a professional tone decreased it. However, neither condition directly affected open rates, reply rates, or response times. The study suggests that the emotional tone of AI-generated language impacts workplace engagement.

What the Document Says

  • The study was a field experiment involving 121 employees across six companies.
  • Over three weeks, employees sent work emails under three conditions: unaided writing, GPT-5 rewriting in a playful tone, and GPT-5 rewriting in a professional tone.
  • A total of 16,880 emails were analyzed.
  • The study found that playful editing increased emotional positivity in responses.
  • Professional editing decreased emotional positivity in responses.
  • Neither condition directly affected open rates, reply rates, or response times.
  • Within-sender positivity was found to strongly predict both opening and replying.
  • The study suggests that AI-assisted communication shapes workplace engagement through the emotional tone of the language it produces.

Key Concepts Mentioned

  • Large language models (LLMs)
  • GPT-5
  • playful tone
  • professional tone
  • workplace communication
  • emotional positivity
  • open rates
  • reply rates
  • response times

Claims Made by the Document

  • Playful editing increases emotional positivity in responses.
  • Professional editing decreases emotional positivity in responses.

Evidence Used

  • 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)

Methods / Approach

UNKNOWN

Limitations Stated by the Authors

UNKNOWN

Limitations Noted by the Agent

Agent interpretation — not from the source.

UNKNOWN

Open Questions

UNKNOWN

Notes for Future Q&A

May include interpretation. Labeled where it does.

UNKNOWN

Raw Abstract / Excerpt

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 strongly predicted both opening (OR=2.05) and replying (OR=3.32, p<0.001), a significant indirect pathway through which AI editing shaped behavior, in the absence of any direct effect. These findings suggest that AI-assisted communication shapes workplace engagement not through its use, but through the emotional tone of the language it produces.