How to write text with AI
From a blank page to a usable first draft in minutes — an email, a post, a long piece — without losing your own voice along the way.
The slowest part of writing is rarely the writing itself — it's starting. AI doesn't replace your judgment about what to say, but it solves that first hurdle well: it gives you a structure, a draft, or an alternative phrasing that's much easier to work from than a blank page.
Pick based on the case
It's not the same tool whether you're starting from scratch or fixing an existing text.
- Starting from scratch (email, post, draft): ChatGPT or Claude, describing context and goal
- Already have a text and just need to fix it: QuillBot's extension works directly in Gmail, Docs or LinkedIn
Give it real context
Who the text is for, what tone you want, and roughly how long.
- "Write me an email" gives a generic result
- Adding recipient, tone (formal, casual, technical) and length gives something you barely need to touch
“Write a short, direct email to reschedule a meeting with a client, cordial but professional tone.”Iterate, don't restart
Ask for specific adjustments to what it already generated, instead of a new text every time.
- "Make the second paragraph shorter," "cut the salesy tone from the ending"
- That back-and-forth usually beats trying to describe everything in the first prompt
Before publishing an AI-generated text
Always check concrete details — names, dates, figures, specific claims — before publishing or sending any AI-generated text; language models can state something incorrect with total confidence. And if the text is going out under your name or your brand's, it's worth rewriting at least the closing or a passage or two in your own words: text pasted straight from a chat tends to stand out for how generic it reads.
Recommended tools
All three help you write better; the difference is whether you're starting from scratch or fixing something you already wrote, and what language you're writing in.
ChatGPT
AI ChatOpenAI's AI assistant for chatting, writing, researching, generating images and coding, all in one place.
Claude
AI ChatAnthropic's AI assistant focused on conversation, writing, analysis and code, with an emphasis on safety and precision.
Frequently asked questions
Which tool is best for writing in Spanish or Portuguese?
ChatGPT or Claude. QuillBot is built almost exclusively for English, and its paraphrasing in other languages is noticeably weaker than in its main language.
Can people tell a text was written with AI?
It depends on how much you edit it afterward. A text pasted straight from a chat tends to sound generic and repetitive; if you use it as a first draft and then adjust tone, examples and structure in your own voice, it's much harder to spot — and it reads better too.
Does it work for long pieces, like a full blog post?
It works better as a starting point than a finished product: for outlining, a first draft, or rewriting specific sections. For a long piece, it's better to generate it in parts and review as you go, rather than asking for the whole thing at once.