An older friend of mine needed to write a note to a woman who had driven him to a medical appointment every week for three months. She’d refused any payment. He wanted the note to actually say something, not just “thank you for everything,” which is true but thin. He sat down to write it twice. Both times he managed two sentences that felt like they weren’t doing the job, put the pen down, and told himself he’d try again tomorrow.
A few weeks later we were talking about it. I suggested he try it with ChatGPT.
He did, and a draft came back in about fifteen seconds. It wasn’t perfect. A bit more formal than he would have written. But it was a better starting point than anything he’d managed on his own. He read it, adjusted the tone, changed one sentence, and mailed it that afternoon.
He’d been sitting on that note for a month.
What AI can do here
The most immediately useful thing AI does, for most people most of the time, is help get words on the page when you’re stuck staring at a blank one. You tell it who the note is for, what you want to say, and roughly what tone you’re going for. It gives you a draft. You make it yours from there.
This works for anything where you know what you want to say but the words won’t come: thank-you notes, replies to tricky messages, a description for something you’re selling, a social media post you’ve been putting off.
Try this
Think of something you’ve been meaning to write. It doesn’t have to be important: a message to a friend you haven’t been in touch with, a note for a card, a reply to something that’s been sitting in your inbox. Pick something real rather than something made up, because the more specific your situation is, the better the draft will be.
- Go to chatgpt.com (or open the app if you already have it).
- In the text box, describe what you need. Don’t just write “write me a thank-you note.” Give it the situation. Here’s an example of the difference:
Too thin: “Write me a thank-you note.”
Useful: “Can you help me write a thank-you note to my neighbour Linda? She watched my dog for two weeks while I was away. I want it to feel warm and personal (we’ve been friends for twenty years), not like a formal letter.” - Read what comes back. It probably won’t be exactly right. That’s expected.
- If it’s too formal, too long, or missed something, reply in the same text box: “Can you make it shorter?” or “Can you make it sound more like something I’d actually say?” or “Can you mention that she refused any payment?” It will revise and try again.
- When the draft is close, copy the text and use it as your starting point. Change anything that doesn’t sound like you. You’re not obligated to keep a single word it wrote.
What just happened
ChatGPT generates a draft based on the details you give it. It’s not guessing at your personal style. It’s working from what you described. The more specific you are about the situation, the tone, and the relationship, the closer the first draft will be to what you actually need. “Help me write a thank-you note to Linda who watched my dog” produces something with Linda and the dog in it. “Write a thank-you note” produces something generic. So the more you tell it up front, the less work you have to do afterward.
One thing to remember
Read the draft out loud before you use it. AI writing occasionally produces a sentence that’s technically correct but doesn’t sound like you, slightly too elevated or a phrase you’d never say in conversation. Your ear catches those things faster than your eye does. Fix them and it’s yours.
Closer
An older friend of mine mentioned later that sending the note had felt like getting something off his chest, something he’d been carrying for longer than it should have taken. ChatGPT didn’t feel that. He did. It just helped him find the words.
Making Sense of AI is a six-part series walking first-time users through the basics, one skill at a time.
