Does AI cold email actually work?

AI works as a layer inside the workflow, not as the whole workflow. It is genuinely strong at research at scale, triaging a list against an ICP, generating sequence variants, and classifying replies.

Where it fails is generating the actual ask. Fully AI-written openers read like every other AI email — same structure, same diction — and buyers spot them in seconds, so reply rates fall. Fake-personalisation merge tags filled by an LLM under-perform a tight static template.

The workflow that performs: AI does the research, a human picks the angle and writes the opener, AI helps with later-touch variants, and AI triages the replies. Roughly AI-heavy by volume, human-led by decision.