Photo via Fast Company
As artificial intelligence becomes embedded in workplace communication, a Harvard Business School student has created a satirical solution to a growing problem: emails that sound too polished, too perfect, and fundamentally inhuman. According to Fast Company, Ben Horwitz developed Sinceerly, a browser extension that intentionally introduces typos, abbreviations, and brevity into AI-generated messages—essentially reversing the function of traditional grammar-checking tools. The paradox is intentional: Horwitz used AI tools like Claude and ChatGPT to build the anti-AI platform in just one month.
The tool operates on three levels—subtle, human, and CEO mode—with the highest tier stripping emails down to bare essentials: fragmented sentences, casual language, and the obligatory "Sent from my iPhone" signature. Horwitz tested his creation on five Fortune 500 CEOs and received replies from four, each demonstrating the very writing style his tool mimics. The experiment revealed that brevity and imperfection have become status symbols in executive communication, signaling importance and lack of time for polish.
For Atlanta's business community, the implications are significant. Marketing research suggests that introducing minor typos into email subject lines can boost open rates by up to 40 percent, as recipients perceive human rather than automated authorship. As companies across the region adopt AI writing assistants, understanding the diminishing returns of over-polished communication could become a competitive advantage. The trend highlights a growing customer fatigue with AI-generated content and a hunger for authentic human connection.
Horwitz's tool, offered at $4.99 monthly after a three-email free trial, underscores a larger cultural moment: in an AI-saturated business environment, humanity itself is becoming valuable. The contradiction at the heart of his creation—using artificial intelligence to make writing seem less artificial—reflects the complex relationship modern professionals must navigate between efficiency and authenticity.
