As of 13 August 2026, AI can draft your business email.
Most people should do this themselves; the prompt is on this page.
Can you do it?
5 minutesto a draft.
15 minutesto something you’d act on.
Cost, all in£0
Skill needednone
Who has to check ityou
What the alternative costsA colleague or professional copywriter can provide a human draft; no price is supplied in the available tool data.
If this goes wrong: the email sounds inappropriate or contains a factual mistake, so you edit it or send a correction before the problem grows.
What to actually do
Do it yourself
The route this page recommends
A chat interface, no skill needed, and roughly 15 minutes until you can act on the result.
How to actually do it
- Open the message, notes or document that contains the reason for writing and copy out the relevant facts, names, dates and requested action.
- Fill in the prompt's recipient, purpose, facts, action, deadline, context, tone and sign-off slots, leaving a slot blank only when it genuinely does not apply.
- Paste the completed prompt into an AI chat or writing assistant and ask it to produce the subject line and email draft.
- Compare every factual statement, name, date, amount and commitment in the draft with the source notes and remove anything the source does not support.
- Read the draft as the recipient, checking that the requested action is clear, the tone fits the relationship and the sign-off identifies you correctly.
- Paste the checked draft into your email client, confirm the recipient and attachments, then send it.
Prompt
Draft a business email using the information below. Write in clear, natural British English. Keep it concise and professional without sounding stiff or overly enthusiastic. Do not invent facts, commitments, dates, prices or policies. If any essential information is missing, list the missing points before drafting. Include a specific subject line and a clear action or reply needed. Return only the subject line and email draft. Recipient and role: [RECIPIENT] Purpose of the email: [PURPOSE] Key facts to include: [FACTS] Action or reply needed: [ACTION NEEDED] Deadline, if any: [DEADLINE] Relevant previous message or context: [CONTEXT] Preferred tone: [TONE] Sender name and sign-off: [SENDER NAME AND SIGN-OFF]
Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.
Use a tool built for this
Second choiceHand it to a person
The distant thirdA person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.
What it gets wrong
- AI cannot know the history of the relationship or the internal politics behind a short message unless you explain them.
- AI cannot decide whether a sensitive point should be raised by email, in a meeting or by phone.
- AI can make a polite draft sound generic, overly formal or more certain than you intended.
- AI does not carry responsibility for promises, confidential information or commitments in the email.
- AI cannot confirm that your facts, figures and attachments are current.
Even on a YES, the friction has a name: context depth and taste.
How we scored this
Five axes, each scored nought to two by hand: ten means AI carries the task cleanly, and the thresholds that turn a total into YES, PARTLY or NO are published in the methodology. Each axis name links to its definition.
| Axis | Score (0–2) |
|---|---|
| Output | 2 |
| Inputs | 2 |
| Verification | 2 |
| Liability | 2 |
| Effort delta | 2 |
| Total | 10 / 10 |
The methodology and its thresholds are published in full.
FAQ
- Can ChatGPT write a business email?
- Yes. It can turn your purpose, facts and requested action into a usable draft, but you should check every factual claim and commitment before sending.
- Is it safe to use AI for work emails?
- It is suitable for ordinary drafting when you remove confidential information and check the result yourself. Do not paste private client, employee or commercially sensitive data into a service unless your organisation permits it.
- How do I get AI to write a professional email?
- Give it the recipient, purpose, relevant facts, action needed, deadline and preferred tone. Ask for a concise British English draft with no invented details, then check the names, dates and commitments against your source notes.
- Will my boss know I used AI to write an email?
- Not necessarily, provided you edit the draft so it matches your normal voice and contains accurate, specific context. A generic tone, incorrect detail or unexplained commitment can make the use of AI obvious.
Nearby answers
Assessed by gpt-5.6-luna (gpt-5.6-luna) on 2026-08-13, second-checked by an independent model. Wrong somewhere? Email [email protected] and it gets re-checked.
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