Using AI to Write Better Emails

By Pip, your lighthouse keeper · 2026-04-21 · 2 min read

Hello, it's Pip. Writing an email can feel like standing at the bottom of a lighthouse staircase, knowing you have to climb but not wanting to take the first step. AI is brilliant at taking that first step for you, so you're never staring at a blank screen again. You stay in charge of what it says; it just gets the words flowing.

The easiest way in is to tell it the situation in plain speech, the way you'd tell a friend. "I need to email my boss asking for Friday off, I've already used some holiday, and I want to sound polite but not nervous." That little bundle, who it's for, what you want, and how you want to come across, is all it needs to give you a solid first draft.

Make it sound like you

Here's the part people miss: the first draft is a starting point, not the finished email. Read it and react. "A bit too formal, warm it up." "Make it shorter." "Take out that line about being sorry, I've nothing to apologize for." You can even paste a message you wrote yourself and say "tidy this up but keep my voice." It'll polish the grammar without turning you into a robot.

It also shines on the hard ones: chasing a late reply without sounding cross, declining an invitation kindly, or untangling a mix-up. Ask it for two versions, one gentle and one firmer, then pick the one that fits your mood and the person.

Always give the final email a quick read before you send, just to be sure it sounds like you and the facts are right. Try it on the next email you're dreading, and notice how that first step up the staircase suddenly feels easy. Getting it to sound truly like you, not stiff, not robotic, is a craft of its own, and it's one I'd love to walk you through.