Writing and email with AI
Email and everyday writing are where AI saves the most time. Here’s how to draft fast, keep your own voice, and never send something you’d regret.
🎬 Watch the video lesson, then work through the full written module below.
Your goals
- Draft and reply to emails quickly with AI.
- Keep your own voice instead of sounding robotic.
- Proofread with AI while checking facts yourself.
Draft in seconds
Give AI the bullet points and the tone; let it write the first draft; you edit. “Write a short, warm email to a client confirming Tuesday 3pm, mention parking, keep it under 80 words.”
Keep your voice
Generic AI text is easy to spot. Fix it by pasting one of your own past emails and saying “match my tone”. Cut filler, keep your normal phrases, read it aloud.
How do you stop AI emails sounding robotic?
Proofread — but check facts
AI is great at spotting typos and clunky sentences: “check this for grammar, clarity and tone”. But you verify names, dates, numbers and any promise before it sends.
Build a reusable email template
Stop starting from scratch. Ask AI to build a template with placeholders you fill in each time:
“Create a reusable email template for chasing an overdue invoice. Use [Name], [Invoice No], [Amount], [Days overdue]. Firm but polite, under 100 words.”
Save the good ones. Now most emails are a 20-second fill-in, not a blank page.
Get the UK tone right
Default AI writing is often too American and too eager. For UK work:
- Ask for UK English spelling explicitly.
- Dial down hype — “professional, understated, no exclamation marks”.
- Avoid over-apologising; be clear and courteous.
- Match the relationship: warmer for a colleague, more formal for a new client.
Draft a real email you owe someone
Your task (5–10 min)
Clear one off your list.
- Pick an email you've been putting off.
- Give AI the bullet points + tone + “under 90 words, UK English.”
- Paste a past email of yours and say “match my voice.”
- Check the facts, then send it.
- Note how long that took versus writing it cold.
A complaint reply
Maya must reply to an unhappy customer. She asks AI for a calm, empathetic draft that offers next steps.
What should they do? Think, then reveal.
Reveal the answer
Use the tone, own the facts.
AI’s empathetic wording is ideal. But Maya checks the actual refund policy and dates before sending — the tone is AI’s, the facts are hers.
A reusable invoice-chaser
The prompt
“Create a reusable email template for chasing an overdue invoice. Use [Name], [Invoice No], [Amount], [Days overdue]. Firm but polite, under 100 words, UK English.”
What it gives you (fill the brackets, reuse forever)
Subject: Invoice [Invoice No] — now [Days overdue] days overdue
Hi [Name],
I hope you’re well. Our records show invoice [Invoice No] for £[Amount] is now [Days overdue] days overdue. If payment is already on its way, thank you — please ignore this note. Otherwise, could you let me know when we can expect it? Happy to resend the invoice if useful.
Best wishes,
Save the good one. Next time it’s paste-and-fill, not start-from-scratch.
End-of-module quiz
6 questions. You need 4 to pass. Retake as often as you like.
Question 1
Best way to brief AI for an email?
Question 2
To keep your voice, you should…
Question 3
Before sending an AI-drafted reply you must…
Question 4
AI drafted a reply quoting your refund policy. The wording is perfect. What's the risk?
Question 5
Which briefing gets the best first draft?
Question 6
AI is best used on email for:
Remember this
- Brief AI with bullets, tone and length — then edit.
- Match your own writing sample to keep your voice.
- AI proofreads; you verify every fact before sending.
Finish all 8 modules and pass each quiz to earn your AI Skills for Work certificate of completion — shareable on your CV and LinkedIn. CPD accreditation is being arranged.