New research from Use.AI suggests artificial intelligence is increasingly being used not for productivity, but for emotional communication, particularly around grief, condolences, and personal reflection after loss.
Artificial intelligence is beginning to shape a category of communication that has historically resisted automation: grief. A new survey conducted by Use.AI found that 37% of respondents said generative AI tools had helped them communicate or process emotions related to loss in ways they struggled to express on their own.
The findings suggest that AI is moving beyond workplace assistance and routine productivity tasks into emotionally sensitive areas of everyday life, including condolences, memorial writing, and private reflection after trauma.
The survey, conducted among 2,184 adults earlier this year, found that 29% of respondents had used AI to help draft a condolence message, particularly in situations involving colleagues, acquaintances, or extended family. Another 24% said they had used AI to structure memorial posts or personal tributes before sharing them publicly.
While digital communication has long shaped how grief is expressed online, the findings point to a more active role for AI systems: not simply transmitting emotion, but helping users organise thoughts during moments of emotional stress.
The shift reflects a broader change in how people use generative AI. Much of the public discussion around the technology has focused on efficiency, automation, and productivity. The Use.AI data instead suggests that many users are turning to AI during moments where clarity, tone, and emotional precision matter more than speed.
“People are not using AI to replace emotion,” said Ihor Herasymov, Managing Director at Use.AI. “What the data shows is that many individuals reach for these tools when they are afraid of sounding distant, inappropriate, or emotionally inadequate. In situations involving grief, people often rewrite the same sentence repeatedly because they understand the emotional weight carried by even a few words.”
The survey also found that 31% of respondents had used AI to edit or refine a message about loss before sending it. Participants frequently described the technology as a drafting or structuring tool rather than a substitute for personal feeling.
Some respondents said AI helped them navigate the social uncertainty surrounding modern grief communication, particularly in professional environments or online spaces where expectations around tone can feel unclear. Others described using AI to structure memories or organise fragmented thoughts after the death of a family member or close friend.
One respondent, a 42-year-old teacher from Perth, said AI provided a starting point after the death of a close friend. The respondent described repeatedly abandoning messages that felt either emotionally flat or excessively formal before eventually using AI to create a draft that could be rewritten into something more personal.
The research also identified a more private use of the technology. Twenty-one percent of respondents said they had used AI to write journal-style reflections about grief or trauma without intending to share the text publicly. In many cases, participants described the process less as content creation and more as emotional organisation.
The findings arrive amid broader cultural debates about authenticity and emotional mediation in the age of generative AI. Critics of AI-assisted communication have argued that relying on automated systems for emotionally significant writing risks flattening personal expression or introducing a sense of emotional distance into intimate interactions.
At the same time, the survey suggests many users do not view AI as the author of emotional communication, but as an editorial layer between feeling and language. Respondents often compared the process to drafting, editing, or receiving help articulating thoughts that already existed.
“Historically, technology changed the speed and format of communication,” Herasymov said. “What is different about generative AI is that it participates directly in shaping emotional language. The interesting pattern in the data is that this often happens not in moments of convenience, but in moments of vulnerability, hesitation, and self-consciousness.”
The findings also reflect the increasingly public nature of grief in digital environments. Memorial posts, tribute messages, and online condolences now form part of everyday social communication, creating new pressure around tone and expression at emotionally sensitive moments.
Despite ongoing concerns around authenticity, the Use.AI research suggests that AI-assisted emotional writing is already becoming normalised for a significant minority of users. Rather than removing emotion from communication, many respondents described the technology as helping reduce the friction between what they felt and what they were capable of expressing.
As generative AI tools become more deeply embedded in everyday communication, their influence may extend beyond productivity and workflow into areas traditionally considered deeply personal, including how people attempt to articulate grief, memory, and emotional presence after loss.
About Use.AI:
Use.AI is a universal AI assistant designed to provide instant access to the world’s most advanced large language models, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, and others, all within a single interface. It supports personal, professional, and creative problem-solving through a clean, minimalist design with voice, image, and file input, enabling users to delegate cognitive tasks, plan, learn, and communicate more effectively. Founded in 2025, Use.AI aims to make AI-powered assistance accessible and practical for everyday life.
Use.AI is a universal AI assistant designed to provide instant access to the world’s most advanced large language models, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, and others, all within a single interface. It supports personal, professional, and creative problem-solving through a clean, minimalist design with voice, image, and file input, enabling users to delegate cognitive tasks, plan, learn, and communicate more effectively. Founded in 2025, Use.AI aims to make AI-powered assistance accessible and practical for everyday life.