Using AI to write text — how to do it without losing your own voice

AI can produce a text draft in seconds. The trouble is it often sounds like everyone else's draft. Here is how to use it without ending up with copy nobody recognises.

What AI is genuinely good at

Some writing tasks suit AI almost perfectly, because they are more about structure than soul:

• First drafts when you are stuck on a blank page.
• Summaries of long emails, notes or meetings.
• Rewrites of text that is too long, too formal or too messy.
• Variations — five headlines, three ways to say the same thing.

In all of these, AI does the heavy lifting while you decide what is good enough.

What AI is weaker at

Text where your own knowledge or voice is the whole point should not be handed off. That includes personal replies to an unhappy customer, expert advice where mistakes carry a cost, and anything that needs a person to stand behind the words. AI can help you tidy up, but the substance has to come from you.

Use AI for drafts, not for finished text

The safest way to work is simple: let AI produce a draft, and edit it yourself before anything goes out. A draft is a start, not an answer. When you edit, you catch what is wrong, what sounds hollow, and what simply is not true.

Text that goes straight from the tool into the world is the most common way to get caught with generic content. That one editing pass is what separates useful from embarrassing.

How to keep your own voice

Generic text is the biggest warning sign. To avoid it:

• Give AI an example of how you actually write, and ask for the same tone.
• Cut the clichés. "In an ever-changing world" and similar filler can go without losing anything.
• Add what only you know — a concrete detail, an example from your business, an opinion the tool could not have guessed.

The goal is not to hide that you used a tool. The goal is for the text to sound like you.

Fact-check anything that can be checked

An AI tool can write something that sounds right but is wrong. It invents names, dates, prices and "facts" with full confidence. So:

• Check every figure, name and claim against a source you trust.
• Do not let the tool invent references or quotes.
• Be extra careful in text where errors have consequences — prices, terms, professional advice.

You are responsible for what is on the page, no matter who wrote the first draft.

Mind your data and privacy

Do not paste customer details, sensitive contracts or confidential material into a personal free account. For text that touches personal data, use a business version with proper terms, and switch off settings that let your data be used for training. A short rule on what can be pasted where saves you trouble later.

A simple workflow to start with

If you want to get going without overthinking it, try this order on your next piece of text:

1. Write a short instruction with who the text is for, what you want, and the tone.
2. Ask for a draft.
3. Edit it yourself: cut filler, add what only you know, fix the tone.
4. Fact-check figures and names.
5. Send.

After a few rounds it goes quickly, and you are left with text that is yours — just made faster.

If you would like to work out which kinds of text in your business are the best fit for this, you are welcome to have a quick chat.