In the early 2000s, email service providers like Bronto, Interspire, MailChimp, and Constant Contact revolutionized customer outreach. They promised “Marketing Automation” that turned what once required days of custom scripting by developers into simple tasks an intern could handle via a web browser. Features like personalized emails using merge tags, event-triggered messages (such as cart abandonment reminders), and mass distribution of pitches felt like a game-changer. Back then, landing in someone’s inbox was straightforward.

But as with many innovations, abuse followed. Marketers and hackers flooded inboxes, sparking an arms race. Email providers ramped up spam detection with sophisticated filters, while protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC emerged to verify senders. In the U.S., the CAN-SPAM Act was passed, but it mostly shielded spammers’ businesses rather than protecting users. Today, I’d estimate that 90% or more of the email hitting my servers is unsolicited junk—filtered out before I even see it. Once, I missed a critical email from my local city government, leading to my water being shut off. Why? Google’s spam filters deemed the municipality’s server insecure. Talk about unintended consequences.

Now, thanks to AI, this cat-and-mouse game has escalated beyond email to SMS, social media, phone calls, and every other digital channel. Services like Twilio are constantly updating terms to crack down on violators, which ironically burdens legitimate businesses like mine. Sending essential, expected messages to users has become a hassle, with servers needing to be “warmed up” and compliance hoops to jump through.

This cycle highlights how AI’s downstream effects are making sales tougher:

• AI empowers abusers to generate spam at scale.
• Communication platforms respond with stricter hurdles and filters.
• Legitimate senders bear the brunt, investing time and money in compliance.
• Spammers quickly adapt and find workarounds.
• The balance tips further toward spam, eroding trust.
• More AI-driven filters are deployed to protect inboxes, perpetuating the loop.

Take those seemingly personalized emails that reference your website or recent activity—they’re often powered by tools like Clay or ClickFunnels. These systems vow hyper-targeted, relevant outreach, but the reality is dismal: click rates are tanking, response rates have plummeted, and breaking through to prospects feels impossible.

The core issue? AI has made it *too* good and *too* easy. Bad actors are quick to adopt cutting-edge tech, and even ethical strategies get replicated overnight. At a recent sales convention, I chatted with reps using automated workflows. One company targeting startups had a clever hack: triggering outreach based on Google Alerts for funding announcements. It propelled them to the top of inboxes and sparked real conversations. But within three months, they were drowned out by 50 similar pitches from competitors who’d copied the tactic.

With AI, spotting buying signals across the web, crafting bespoke messages on the fly, delivering them seamlessly, and optimizing follow-ups is effortless. Gone are the days when machine-generated emails stood out for their generic vagueness—now, they’re indistinguishable from human ones.

It’s akin to how social media and dating apps have poisoned modern romance: endless options breed superficiality and fatigue. A sales exec I spoke with last week put it bluntly: “AI has salted the earth for cold contacting.” The same erosion is hitting social media. Upload one photo, and AI can churn out 100 videos of you pontificating as an expert on any topic. But are people engaging? Hardly—feeds are ignored, and content interaction is in freefall.

Even web search is turning into a swamp. We skim AI summaries instead of clicking links, while SEO devolves into spammy tactics exploiting LLM weaknesses rather than search engine bots. The endgame? Get your brand mentioned enough to hitch a ride in the next AI training dataset.

So, what’s the fix? I see two paths forward. The first is decidedly low-tech: leaning into personal networks. Face-to-face interactions will reign supreme, favoring natural networkers. High-stakes, trust-dependent deals will demand real human connections—it’s not what you know, but who you know.

The second flips the script with buyer-side automation. We’ll unleash AI agents to hunt for solutions, vet suppliers, and even negotiate proposals before we humans get involved. Suppliers’ bots might pitch to prospects’ AIs, surfacing options we didn’t even know we needed.

Good solution or not, this shift is inevitable. AI isn’t just changing sales—it’s forcing us to redefine how we connect in a world overrun by automation.