11h ago

Y Combinator's Paul Graham warns that AI-generated emails from startup founders lose all impact once detected

Graham noted a telltale journalistic tone exposes these drafts

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Original post

A lot of the emails I get from founders are now written in a hard-hitting journalistic style. I know they're written by AI, because no founder ever wrote this way before. And once you realize something is written by AI, it's hard not to ignore it.

2:34 AM · May 25, 2026 View on X

I have never knowingly finished reading an email signed by a human but written by AI. It feels like being lied to, and who would stand for that?

Paul GrahamPaul Graham@paulg

A lot of the emails I get from founders are now written in a hard-hitting journalistic style. I know they're written by AI, because no founder ever wrote this way before. And once you realize something is written by AI, it's hard not to ignore it.

9:34 AM · May 25, 2026 · 457.2K Views
10:20 AM · May 25, 2026 · 70K Views

🔥

rat king 🐀rat king 🐀@MikeIsaac

i have found this as an interesting byproduct of the rise of obvious ai writing in pitches all the companies say it’s a big timesaver and i guess that’s true in a sense bc i send AI-written pitches directly into the trash

3:34 PM · May 25, 2026 · 38.4K Views
7:16 PM · May 25, 2026 · 3.1K Views

@MikeIsaac been getting AI pitches, cover letters, job applications etc. from younger ivy league students or recent grads from top schools disproportionately, have you seen this?

rat king 🐀rat king 🐀@MikeIsaac

i have found this as an interesting byproduct of the rise of obvious ai writing in pitches all the companies say it’s a big timesaver and i guess that’s true in a sense bc i send AI-written pitches directly into the trash

3:34 PM · May 25, 2026 · 38.4K Views
6:35 PM · May 25, 2026 · 2K Views

Huh

Paul GrahamPaul Graham@paulg

A lot of the emails I get from founders are now written in a hard-hitting journalistic style. I know they're written by AI, because no founder ever wrote this way before. And once you realize something is written by AI, it's hard not to ignore it.

9:34 AM · May 25, 2026 · 457.2K Views
8:20 PM · May 25, 2026 · 257 Views

it’s so true that it’s hard not to ignore something written purely by AI.

Paul GrahamPaul Graham@paulg

A lot of the emails I get from founders are now written in a hard-hitting journalistic style. I know they're written by AI, because no founder ever wrote this way before. And once you realize something is written by AI, it's hard not to ignore it.

9:34 AM · May 25, 2026 · 457.2K Views
1:09 PM · May 25, 2026 · 975 Views
Y Combinator's Paul Graham warns that AI-generated emails from startup founders lose all impact once detected · Digg