A blank card can be harder than it looks. You know how you feel about the person, but the first line will not come.
In this lesson, your AI app writes a first try, called a draft. Then you shape it until it sounds like you. You will also learn one habit that keeps personal details out of the chat.
What the app does, and what stays yours
An AI app is useful for four writing jobs:
- Getting started when the page is blank.
- Finding the tone, whether warmer or firmer.
- Shortening a message that runs long.
- Tidying spelling and grammar.
Three things stay yours: the memories, the facts and the feelings. The app has never met your friend. It only knows what you tell it in the chat.
If you give it few details, it may make some up. So read every draft and take out anything that is not true.
Tell it what a helpful friend would ask
There is no formula to memorize. Picture a friend sitting beside you, offering to help with a card. They would ask a few plain questions:
- Who is it for? A first name is enough.
- What is the occasion?
- What are two or three true details?
- How long should it be?
- How should it sound: cheerful, gentle, or polite and firm?
Answer those in ordinary sentences, by voice or by typing. For example: “Write a thank-you note of three sentences for my neighbour Joan. She watered my tomatoes for two weeks. Make it cheerful.”
The same approach works for many kinds of message:
- a birthday or anniversary note
- a thank-you card
- a catch-up message to a grandchild
- a few lines of sympathy
- a polite and firm note to a landlord or condo office
Keep your own voice, then copy it out
The first draft is rarely the one to send. It may sound too fancy, or not like you at all. That is normal, and you fix it by asking again.
Use the short follow-ups from Lesson 2. These work well for messages:
- “Give me two versions.”
- “Plainer, more like how I talk.”
- “Shorter, please.”
Then change a word or two yourself. Put in the nickname you use, or a phrase you always say. Small changes make the message yours.
Last, read it aloud. If you would never say a line, change it.
Moving the message out of the app. Look under the answer for a Copy button. It may be the word “Copy” or a small icon, often two overlapping squares. Copy tells your phone to remember the words. Paste puts them down somewhere else.
Next, open your messages or email app and start a new message. On an iPhone or iPad, tap where the words should go. If the word Paste does not appear, tap the same spot once more. Then tap Paste. On an Android phone or tablet, touch and hold that spot, then tap Paste.
Apps move their buttons from time to time. If you cannot find Copy, press and hold on the answer and look for it in the menu. You can also write the message out by hand on a card.
Writing to relatives in another language
AI apps can write in many languages. Several of the companies behind them list the languages they support on their help pages.
This can help with a note to relatives abroad. Write your message in the language you find most comfortable. Then ask the app to put it into theirs.
Take care with anything important. Names, sayings and tone can come out wrong. Ask a family member who speaks the language well to read it before you send it.
The placeholder habit and your safety minute
A placeholder is a stand-in word. You type the stand-in in the chat. Later, you add the real detail by hand.
- Use first names only.
- Type “[my address]” or “[account number]” in place of the real thing.
- Leave out other people's private details, such as their health or money matters.
- Leave out the dates your home will be empty.
Here is the reason. Most AI apps save your chats so you can find them again. Some also use chats to improve the app, unless you change a setting. Lesson 7 shows you where that setting is.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada gives similar advice for anything you share online. The first tip on its page 5 tips to protect your privacy online is “Share with caution”.
Safety minute. You have now seen how fast an app can write a warm, tidy message. Anyone can do the same. Good spelling and a friendly tone no longer prove that a message is genuine. Get Cyber Safe, a Government of Canada campaign, makes the same point about scam messages.
One calm action covers it. If a message asks for money, gift cards or a code, stop. Then call the person on a number you already have. Lesson 6 covers this in full.
The three ground rules apply here, as in every lesson:
- Keep private numbers out.
- Check anything that matters.
- It is not your doctor, lawyer or financial adviser.
Said plainly: an AI app is not a doctor, a lawyer or a financial adviser. It can help you word a note to your landlord. For advice about your rights, your health or your money, ask a qualified person.
Try it: A message someone would be glad to get: a practice run (about 10 minutes, phone or tablet)
- Open your AI app and start a new chat. A new chat is a fresh conversation, so earlier topics do not get mixed in. Look for the words “New chat”, or a small pencil or plus symbol. Buttons differ from app to app. This practice run uses a made-up friend called Rosa, so nothing personal goes into the chat.
- Type or say this practice request: “Please write a short birthday message of three or four sentences for my friend Rosa. She is turning 75. She taught me to make perogies, and we went fishing together every July. Make it warm and plain.”
- Read the draft. Then ask for one change. Say “Warmer”, “Shorter”, or “Plainer, more like how I talk.”
- Look under the answer for the Copy button and tap it. If you cannot find one, press and hold on the answer and choose Copy from the menu.
- Open your notes app, or start a new email and leave the “To” line empty. On an iPhone or iPad, tap in the writing space. If Paste does not appear, tap the same spot once more. Then tap Paste. On an Android phone or tablet, touch and hold in the writing space, then tap Paste.
- Change at least two phrases yourself, as if Rosa were your own friend. Then read the message aloud. If a line sounds stiff, change it.
- Your win for today: you steered a draft until it sounded like you, and you moved it out of the app. You do not need to send this one. When you write to a real person, follow the same steps, use a first name only, and leave out addresses and phone numbers. Sending is always your choice.
Prompts you can copy
A birthday, thank-you or thinking-of-you note
Make it sound more like me
A polite and firm note
A message in another language
Before you move on
Sources checked for this lesson: Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada: 5 tips to protect your privacy online • Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada: 10 tips for protecting personal information • Get Cyber Safe: How cyber criminals are using artificial intelligence (AI) for online threats • Get Cyber Safe: How to avoid sharing too much information online • Apple Support: Copy and paste between your iPhone and other Apple devices • Apple Support: Select, edit, and move text on iPhone • Google Docs Editors Help: Copy and paste text and images (Android) • Google Gemini Apps Help: Gemini Apps Privacy Hub • Google Gemini Apps Help: Where you can use the Gemini web app • Microsoft Support: Privacy FAQ for Microsoft Copilot • Microsoft Support: Supported languages for Microsoft Copilot • Anthropic Privacy Center: Is my data used for model training? • Claude Help Center: How to use Claude in your preferred language