A genre, scoring and authorship analysis of AI-generated and human-written refusal emails

Journal article

This study compares AI-generated (ChatGPT and Gemini) and human-written business refusal texts. A genre analysis found that AI-generated texts are formulaic and less nuanced than human-written texts. Applying a rating of professional writing quality, inferential statistics revealed no significant difference in scores between Gemini and human-written texts, but revealed ChatGPT as lower. Human assessors identified authorship of AI-generated texts with an accuracy rate of 68.1%, and human-written texts with 86% accuracy. Key concerns for assessors were tone, relationship, language choice, content, and structure. The findings inform four key areas of focus for teaching business writing in the AI age.

Authors: Wilson, W; Rose, H

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Journal: Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
• Publication date: 2025-03-12
• Acceptance date: 2025-02-06
• DOI: 10.1177/23294906251322890
• EISSN: 2329-4922
• ISSN: 2329-4906
• Language: English
• Keywords: genre; business writing; generative-AI; business communication