Ethical Cold Outreach
blog.val.town
August 11, 2026
5 min read
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43/100
Summary
A startup sent a cold email featuring a 90-second video pitch from a synthetic character named "Chase." The video was described as "personalised," but it was revealed to be an impersonal creation, either entirely fabricated or a clone of the human creator.
Key Takeaways
- A startup used an AI-generated video for cold outreach, presenting a synthetic human that misled recipients into thinking it was a real person.
- Robin Sloan argues that using robots for simulated human marketing outreach is unethical and suggests transparency in automated communications.
- The rise of AI-generated content is creating a "digital-ecological crisis," where the reliability of human communication is increasingly compromised.
- Val Town emphasizes ethical selling practices, focusing on genuine customer engagement and product feedback rather than deceptive marketing tactics.
Community Sentiment
Positives
- Cold outreach can actually be a game-changer for early user acquisition — this is where many developers are finding traction when other methods fail.
- Some commenters believe that targeted cold outreach can be a fun and engaging way to discover new products, suggesting a potential market for relevant communication.
Concerns
- There's a strong sentiment against cold outreach, with many developers feeling it's just spam and an invasion of their inboxes.
- The ethics of cold emailing are heavily questioned, with some arguing that it feels disingenuous, especially when AI bots are involved in the outreach.
