Main image of article What's the Best Way to Use AI for Non-Tech Work Tasks?

As a tech professional, you likely prioritize tasks such as coding and debugging. You don’t have much time for the other aspects of corporate life—churning out emails, building presentations, or even (shudder) writing tech-focused articles or blog posts for the company to post on their website.

Can generative AI help you automate those bits of work you don’t like? The short answer is “yes,” although you can’t entrust everything to a machine. Let’s break it down.

In case you’re unaware, generative AI tools have advanced significantly over the past year or so, offering increasingly powerful capabilities to assist in content creation. By understanding how to leverage these tools, you can streamline your writing process—and reduce the time spent on grinding through status emails and whatnot.

Practical AI Writing for Tech Professionals

Here are some practical ways you can use AI to assist with your writing tasks. The emphasis here is on speed so you can get back to doing what you do best. We’ve also included some sample prompts for your amusement:

Email Writing

  • Prompt: "Write a concise email to my team about the upcoming project deadline, emphasizing the importance of timely completion."
  • Tips:
    • Clear and concise prompts: The more specific your prompt, the better the AI's response.
    • Iterative refinement: Don't be afraid to experiment with different prompts and refine the generated text.
    • Personalization: Add a personal touch to the generated email by customizing the tone and style. Remember, generative AI doesn’t know your office or the particulars of a project; you’ll need to fill those in yourself.

Blog Post Creation

  • Prompt: "Write a blog post explaining the concept of machine learning to a non-technical audience, using simple analogies." (You can substitute this with the topic of your choice, of course.)
  • Tips:
    • Keyword optimization: Use AI to suggest relevant keywords to improve search engine visibility. If your company has an SEO expert, ask them to generate a list of keywords, then ask your generative AI tool to rewrite the blog post with those keywords inserted.
    • Content structuring: AI can help organize your thoughts and create a logical flow for your blog post. If your company is demanding you write this blog post, just paste in their requested structure and thoughts into the prompt field.
    • Fact-checking: While AI can generate text, it's essential to verify the information with reliable sources.

Article Writing

  • Prompt: "Write an article about the future of AI in cybersecurity, discussing potential threats and mitigation strategies." If you’d like to save yourself some work, you can also ask the tool to cover specific things. You’ll also want to use the prompt to identify your audience; tools such as Gemini can write text for more non-technical readers, for instance.

Presentation Creation

  • Prompt: "Create a PowerPoint presentation on the benefits of cloud computing, including slides on cost savings, scalability, and security." That’s just your starter, though (the tool will generate a slide or two that doesn’t have much value): you’ll need to fill in the prompt with text and data.
  • Tips:
    • Slide design: AI can suggest visually appealing layouts and color schemes… provided you give it some direction.
    • Content generation: AI can help you draft the text for each slide, ensuring a consistent tone and style. It can be helpful to use each prompt to generate a single slide, rather than trying to have a generative AI tool craft the entire presentation at once.
    • Presentation scripting: AI can generate scripts for your presentation, helping you deliver a smooth and engaging speech.

More Tips

Whatever your writing needs, keep the following in mind.

  • Experimentation: Don't be afraid to try different prompts and approaches, provided you have some time.
  • Human touch: While AI can generate text, human judgment is still essential. Always fact-check the outputs of generative AI, especially if you’ve asked it to write something technical.
  • Ethical considerations: Use AI responsibly and ethically, avoiding plagiarism and misinformation.
  • Continuous learning: Stay updated on the latest AI tools and techniques.

By harnessing the power of AI, you can significantly improve your writing efficiency and productivity. And when you’re squeezed for time and need to spend your energy on actual tech work, AI prompting can quickly become an exceptionally useful tool for getting your writing-related tasks out of the way.