After 17 years of coaching international professionals, I've reached one clear conclusion: most workplace communication problems are not language problems. As AI tools transform business communication across every industry, this has never been more apparent — or more important.
Brenda de Jong-Pauley, MA
Director, The English Center
June 2026
Not long ago, business English writing courses focused heavily on grammar, vocabulary, and email structure.
That made sense. Writing a clear, professional email in English required a significant amount of skill and effort. Many professionals worked hard to sound more polished, more concise, and more confident in writing.
Then AI arrived.
Today, AI business communication tools such as Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, and Grammarly can draft an email in seconds. They can improve grammar, suggest vocabulary, adjust tone, fix typos, and even rewrite a message for a specific audience. If you want to get the most out of these tools, our guide to writing effective AI prompts is a good place to start.
This raises an important question:
If AI can write the email, what skills still matter?
The answer may surprise you. The most difficult communication challenges at work were never really about writing. They were about people.
Imagine you are a personal assistant supporting a senior executive. A colleague requests a meeting with your manager. Unfortunately, the executive's schedule is already full for the next three weeks.
At first glance, this seems like a simple writing task. You could ask AI to draft a response:
"Unfortunately, Mr. Johnson is unavailable during the requested period."
Grammatically, the email is fine. But communication is not simply about transferring information. The colleague requesting the meeting may already feel ignored. The project may be politically important. The person making the request may be a key stakeholder whose support will be needed later.
Suddenly, the challenge is no longer writing an email. The challenge is preserving a relationship while delivering an unwelcome message. A skilled communicator might choose a different approach:
"Thank you for reaching out. Unfortunately, Mr. Johnson's schedule is fully committed over the coming weeks. I understand the importance of this discussion and would be happy to explore alternative dates or another way to move the conversation forward."
The information is largely the same. The relationship outcome may be very different. AI can help generate either version. Only a human can decide which one is appropriate.
Many professionals think emails exist primarily to exchange information. In reality, most workplace communication serves two purposes simultaneously.
The first is obvious: to communicate information.
The second is less obvious: to manage a relationship.
Consider these examples:
"We need the report by Friday."
"This report is becoming urgent."
"Could you please prioritize this report? It would help us stay on schedule."
All three messages communicate roughly the same information, yet they create different emotional reactions.
One sounds directive. One sounds concerned. One sounds collaborative.
None of them are necessarily wrong. The question is which response is most likely to achieve the desired outcome with this particular person in this particular situation. That is not a grammar question. It is a judgment question.
One of the most remarkable things about human communication is that the same sentence can mean different things depending on who says it, who receives it, and what has happened before.
Imagine receiving this message:
"We need to talk."
How would you interpret it? Most people answer: "It depends."
Exactly. It depends on whether the sender is your manager, a colleague, a client, or a friend. It depends on whether your last interaction was positive or negative. It depends on the history of the relationship. Human beings naturally interpret messages through context.
AI struggles with this. An AI system can analyze words on a screen. It cannot fully understand years of trust, frustration, loyalty, disappointment, office politics, or personal history unless those details are explicitly provided.
This limitation becomes especially important in leadership support roles.
Personal assistants and executive assistants often communicate on behalf of other people. They are not simply sending emails. They are managing expectations, protecting relationships, representing leadership, and helping organizations function smoothly. Success often depends on understanding factors that never appear in the email itself.
As AI becomes better at producing language, the value of purely technical writing skills may decline. The communication skills AI can't replace, however, become more important than ever.
These include:
For Dutch professionals working internationally, this can be particularly important. Dutch communication is often admired for its clarity and efficiency. At the same time, international business environments sometimes require a broader communication range. The goal is not to become less Dutch — it's to develop more options.
A skilled communicator knows when to be direct, when to be diplomatic, when to push, and when to pause.
The future of AI business communication is unlikely to be humans competing with AI. Instead, it will be humans using AI to handle language while focusing their attention on the things that matter most:
Relationships. Context. Trust. Judgment.
AI can help you write an email. It cannot tell you whether that email will strengthen a relationship, damage one, or miss the point entirely. That remains a uniquely human skill.
In a world where everyone has access to the same technology, understanding people may be the most valuable communication skill of all. This is equally true for professionals working at the cutting edge of AI itself. Even those building and deploying these tools need to remember that technology operates within human systems — systems built on trust, relationships, and judgment. For IT professionals working in global teams, the communication skills AI can't replace are just as critical as technical expertise.
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About the authors:
Brenda de Jong-Pauley, MA is the founder and director of The English Center. For more than 17 years, she has coached international professionals, executive assistants, managers, and business leaders to communicate more effectively in English.
Edited by A. Roberts, Trainer with The English Center. She holds a BA in English Literature.
With thanks to DJ Human, Head of AI at Raw Power Labs, for his generous input on this piece.
