Shuman Ghosemajumder | Half of Gen-Z workers say email 'stresses them out.' Can AI teach them to communicate better?

Email is strange. It’s a slow, clunky technology that predates the web and hasn't really changed since it was invented over 50 years ago.

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Shuman Ghosemajumder is the co-founder and CEO of Reken, an AI cybersecurity startup based in San Francisco, and the former CTO of Shape Security. He worked at Google from 2003 to 2010, where he helped launch Gmail and founded and led the company's Trust & Safety product group.

It references forgotten processes, such as “cc” and “bcc,” for “carbon copy” and “blind carbon copy,” when most young people have likely never seen carbon paper. And those functions have no counterparts in modern texting and direct messaging apps.

So, it’s no surprise that over the years, studies have shown that Gen-Zers don’t really feel at ease with email. Indeed, one survey found that 52 percent of Gen-Zers admit that email “stresses them out.” One of the reasons for that stress is that learning how to use email effectively is not easy—but when a member of Gen-Z does write emails, texts, or other messages well, they often stand out.

I’ve worked with many exceptional new grads throughout my career. Many who joined us at Google in the 2000s went on to become leading founders and CEOs. At my previous company in the 2010s, some key inventions came from interns. Today at Reken, where we are building a new type of AI cybersecurity platform, our Gen-Z team members have included a world debate champion, a Rhodes Scholar, and a video game reverse-engineering prodigy. They each stood out among their peers not only for their talents, but also for the way they communicated more effectively as part of a team.