There is a common misconception that AI is mainly useful for writing blog posts or generating images. In reality, some of the most valuable uses of AI are the quiet, unglamorous ones -- the tasks that eat up your time every week without you even noticing.
Here are some of the most practical ways people are using AI at work right now, along with simple prompts to try yourself.
Drafting emails faster
Most people spend far too long staring at a blank email. AI can draft it for you in seconds. You just need to give it the key points and tell it the tone you want.
Draft a professional but friendly email to a supplier asking why our order from last week has not arrived yet. Keep it polite but firm, and ask for a specific delivery date.
You will still want to read it through and tweak it, but the hard part -- getting started -- is done.
Summarising long documents
Got a 40-page report to read before a meeting? Upload it to NotebookLM or Claude and ask for a summary of the key points. You can even ask specific questions: "What are the three main recommendations in this report?" or "Is there anything in here about budget changes?"
This is one of those uses that, once you have tried it, you will wonder how you ever managed without it.
Preparing for meetings
Ask AI to help you prepare an agenda, anticipate questions you might be asked, or summarise background information on a topic. You can also use it to write up meeting notes afterwards -- just paste in a rough set of bullet points and ask it to turn them into a clear, formatted summary.
Try: "I have a meeting tomorrow about [topic]. What are the five most important questions I should be prepared to answer?"
Writing reports and proposals
AI is very good at helping you structure written work. Even if you prefer to write the content yourself, asking AI to give you an outline first can save a lot of time and make the final document much clearer.
Give me a clear structure for a business proposal for a new staff training programme. Include sections for the problem, the proposed solution, costs, timeline, and expected outcomes.
Creating spreadsheet templates
This is one that surprises a lot of people. Claude is particularly good at creating spreadsheet templates from scratch. You describe what you need -- a budget tracker, a project timeline, an expense log -- and it will give you a complete template with columns, formulas, and instructions that you can paste straight into Excel or Google Sheets.
Researching topics quickly
Whether you need to understand a new regulation, research a potential supplier, or get up to speed on an industry trend, Perplexity can pull together a well-sourced overview in seconds. It is much faster than trawling through search results, and every claim comes with a source you can check.
Proofreading and improving your writing
Paste any piece of writing into Claude or ChatGPT and ask it to proofread it, improve the flow, or make it sound more professional. It will not just fix typos -- it will suggest better ways to phrase things, flag anything that is unclear, and help you sound more confident on paper.
- →Drafting emails and messages
- →Summarising long documents and reports
- →Preparing for meetings and writing up notes
- →Creating spreadsheet templates and trackers
- →Researching topics with cited sources
- →Proofreading and polishing your writing
- →Writing proposals, plans, and presentations
The key is to start small. Pick one task from this list that you do regularly, and try using AI for it this week. Once you see how much time it saves, you will naturally start finding more ways to use it.
