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Good morning. I used to draft a prompt like I was writing legislation, rewriting it three times before hitting enter. Today's lead is about why that stopped mattering, and the tutorial helps with an email most of us dread writing to someone we care about.
AI INSIGHT
Do Your Prompts Need to Be Perfect?
I used to believe a good prompt needed to be engineered: precise wording, careful structure, every instruction accounted for before I hit enter. When I started this newsletter, I would rewrite a prompt two or three times just to get the phrasing right, sometimes hunting for the "correct" way to ask before I typed a single word.
That changed once I started using voice dictation to work with AI instead of typing. ChatGPT, Claude, and Wispr Flow all handle a longer, more rambling explanation just as well as a tight one, maybe better. The out loud version gave the AI more to work with than the version I would have bothered typing.
The lesson isn't really about voice. It's that AI needs clarity and context far more than it needs precision. A prompt that says what you actually want, in your own words, beats a shorter one polished for effect.
The catch: a longer prompt still needs real information in it. Rambling without substance doesn't help any more than a clipped, careful sentence does. Say what you're trying to do, give the actual details, and stop worrying about the wording.
If you've been holding off on asking AI something because you don't know how to phrase it right, that's the whole fix this week. Explain it the way you'd explain it to a person.
Go further: OpenAI's own guide to writing a clear prompt
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AI TUTORIAL
Write the Email You've Been Avoiding
I use AI to get started on nearly every article or email I write now, and it is the blank page, not the actual writing, that eats the time. That habit matters even more on a message you've been putting off: a complaint, a hard family conversation put in writing, a note to an insurance company or a doctor's office. AI cannot decide what you want to say. It can get you past staring at an empty box.
✓ Name the one outcome you actually want: an apology, a refund, a boundary set, an explanation. Pick one, not a list.
✓ Tell AI who it's going to and the real situation, plainly, the way you'd explain it to a friend.
✓ Ask for a draft that's clear and direct, not confrontational, short enough that the reader gets the point in one read.
✓ Read it back and cut anything that sounds like blame instead of fact. AI tends to over-explain and under-apologize.
✓ If money, health, or a legal matter is involved, have an actual person read it before you send it.
Try This With AI What it does: Turns a hard, uncomfortable message into a clear first draft you can edit down, instead of a blank page.
"Act as a communications advisor. I need to write a [complaint letter / difficult family email / message to an insurance company or medical office]. Here's the situation: [what happened, who it's to, what you want to happen]. Write a short, clear, non-confrontational draft that states the facts and the outcome I want, without sounding accusatory. End with one specific next step or question."
Customize it: Swap in the real relationship and situation, and say plainly whether you want it to read formal or personal. |
If it does not work: The first draft usually comes back too soft, full of hedging phrases like "I understand this might be frustrating" that take up space without saying anything, or so formal it sounds like a lawyer wrote it instead of you. Tell it directly: cut the hedging, get to the point in the first two sentences, and write it the way you'd actually say it out loud.
What this doesn't fix: AI doesn't know what you're actually willing to compromise on, and it can't repair a relationship a letter alone won't fix. For anything with real legal, medical, or financial stakes, have a person who knows the details read it before you send it.
ASK A FAMOUS MIND
🏀 What would Caitlin Clark tell a young athlete about handling pressure when everyone expects you to be great?
Ask her yourself in Ask a Famous Mind. Always free. 👉 Try it here
NEWS YOU CAN USE
This Matters at Home
Short, practical summaries to help you stay updated on recent AI news—and what it means for everyday life.
💰 Meta Just Put a Price Tag on Its AI Features. Meta One bundles 50-plus new features across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp into paid tiers, so basic AI stays free but the fun extras now cost you.
🤳 Two Former TikTok Execs Built an App That Poses For You. Superpose analyzes your selfie and generates four flattering AI poses on the spot, so you never again awkwardly wonder what to do with your hands.
📚 AI Short Stories Are Now Rated Better Than Human Ones. A study had 1,600+ people rate short stories blind. AI-written ones scored higher on quality and engagement, though human-labeled stories still rated best.
REAL WORLD
How We Used AI This Week
Real people, real uses—here’s how AI is quietly making life better, one small win at a time.
🏈 Kyle B., Tampa, FL. His fantasy football league is running a two quarterback format this year for its fifteenth anniversary, the same format the league used back when it started in 2011. He gave AI his round by round player list, the league's scoring rules, and his own sleepers and busts, then asked it to rebuild a standard mock draft into a two quarterback version. It came back with a plan that worked his sleepers in early and steered him clear of every bust on his list.
READER POLL
When it comes to AI prompts, where do you fall?
TOOLS FOR YOU
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