AI at Work

Eight lessons on using AI in a real job, without pretending it is magic and without pretending it is useless. Written for accountants, teachers, nurses, lawyers, shopkeepers, marketers and civil servants anywhere in the world. Covers which of your tasks AI is actually good at, how to draft and summarise well, working with your own documents and spreadsheets, meetings and email, the confidentiality lines you must never cross, how to check work you are accountable for, and how to talk about all of this with a sceptical team.

1. 1What it is actually good at8 minIf you did not supply the facts, treat every fact it returns as unverified — fluency is not evidence.
2. 2Drafting, rewriting, and the tone problem9 minDescribe the situation, not the deliverable — then rewrite your own words rather than accepting generated ones.
3. 3Summarising and the missing sentence8 minA summary's real risk is omission, not error — so name what must appear and demand it say when something is absent.
4. 4Working with your own documents9 minAttaching your documents puts the truth in the text — but demand quoted citations, because general knowledge blends in invisibly.
5. 5Spreadsheets and data, without being a data person9 minNever ask AI for the answer to a calculation; ask for the formula, then test it on rows you can check by hand.
6. 6Meetings and email8 minFrom a meeting, extract decisions, owners and deadlines — never the discussion, and never let AI hit send.
7. 7What must never go into the box10 minPasting into a chatbot is disclosure to an outside party — your duty of confidentiality is breached at the moment of sending.
8. 8Checking your own work, and talking to a sceptical boss10 minYour name on the work means you vouch for every line — check hardest on specifics you did not supply.