Hachette CEO writes every email himself. He says AI shortcuts are creating a ‘worse C-suite’

Some of the world’s most successful business leaders are voracious readers.

Bill Gates told the New York Times in 2016 that he reads 50 books a year.

Warren Buffett is said to spend as much as 80% of his working day reading and thinking.

In 2000, when a Columbia Business School student asked him how to prepare for a career in investing, Buffett pointed to a stack of reports and told the class to read 500 pages like that every day, because knowledge “builds up, like compound interest.” But a new wave of executives are letting AI do the reading for them, using it to summarize reports, draft emails, and, in some cases, speak on their behalf.

More than two-thirds (68%) of leaders in the U.S. and U.K. turn to AI to summarize documents, and 58% use it to draft emails, according to a survey by General Assembly and coaching firm Ezra.

Microsoft executive VP Ryan Roslansky uses AI to help write almost every “high-stakes” email he sends .

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella relies on AI agents to digest his inbox and prepare him for meetings.

Meanwhile, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly building an AI clone of himself that is trained on his tone and mannerisms and can answer staff questions.

For time-starved CEOs fielding demands from employees, investors, and the public across multiple channels, AI offers a way to keep up.

“CEOs have stuff coming at them from every corner all the time, and some degree of summary is useful,” says David Meadvin, a former Senate speechwriter who now runs executive advisory firm One Strategy Group.

Condensing information for the boss is hardly new, he adds: “We’ve had junior people doing news summaries since the beginning of time.” Yet he also calls AI “reliably average” and warns it can “dilute brilliance.” A C-suite communication crisis David Shelley, CEO of book publisher Hachette, goes further, warning that leaders who lean too heavily on AI are heading for a communication crisis.

“I predict a growing dissonance between how someone appears in their written statements and how they are in real life,” he tells Fortune .

That disconnect could prove costly at a moment when employees are looking to their bosses to bring the workforce together.

In Edelman’s 2026 Trust Barometer, 73% of employees said CEOs have an obligation to build trust and bridge divides, but only 44% said their leaders were doing it well.