Marta
Asking Marta to write for you
A difficult email, a summary for management, a reply to a complaint: what comes out well and what must always be reviewed.
Drafting is one of the things it does best, and also one of the easiest to send without reading. The difference between the two is one minute of reading, and it helps to know when that minute is compulsory.
What comes out well and what to watch
| Task | Usually comes out well | What to check before sending |
|---|---|---|
| Reminding someone of something outstanding | Yes, and it saves real time | That what is said to be missing is right |
| Summarising a file for management | Yes | The figures: a summary can misquote them |
| Replying to a complaint | The tone, very well | Everything else: dates, commitments and assumptions |
| Drafting a clause or an undertaking | Not the place | That is reviewed by whoever answers for it |
Important
The third row holds the real risk and also the biggest saving. A draft reply to a complaint comes out with a better tone than you would manage writing in the heat of the moment — and precisely for that reason it is easy to send without checking whether what it asserts is true. **A well-written text is not a verified text**, and you are the one signing it.
How to ask so it comes out useful
- 1
Say who it is for and what you want to achieve
"To the supplier, so they deliver this week" gives a different text from "to put it on record".
- 2
Say the tone
Warm, firm, formal. It changes the result most and is asked for least.
- 3
And say what NOT to say
If you do not want to commit to a date or concede something, say so: otherwise it will appear, very politely worded.
Watch out
Point three prevents the most grief in client replies. A friendly draft tends to close with a promise — "you'll have it Friday" — that nobody has checked is achievable. If you did not decide it, it should not be in the email.
What to do with the draft
That last one does more for the reply than any other edit: a five-line message gets answered the same day and a twenty-line one gets left for later.
Worth knowing
Drafting is an action and consumes, like any AI request. Asking for four versions of the same email to pick a favourite costs four; asking for one and adjusting it yourself usually turns out better.
›Can it write in another language?
Yes, and it is where it saves the most time if you rarely write in that language.
›Will the recipient know an AI wrote it?
There is no marker; the text is yours from the moment you send it, and so is the responsibility.
›Can it use the supplier's history to draft?
Yes, which is why it is worth checking what it cites before sending.
A real case
The situation
Someone asks for a draft reply to a complaint and sends it as is.
What you do
- Reads the whole draft and checks dates and commitments
- Removes a deadline promise nobody had decided
What you get
Replies the same day, in good tone and without committing to a date they could not meet.
The situation
A notice is drafted and sent unread.
What you do
- Reviews the text before sending
What you get
What goes out carries your judgement.
The situation
The text uses a tone that is not yours.
What you do
- States the tone when asking
What you get
The draft resembles how you write.
The situation
The draft asserts something not on record.
What you do
- Checks the claims before sending
What you get
Nothing goes out that cannot be stood behind.
The situation
A text is requested with no context.
What you do
- States recipient, reason and date
What you get
The draft serves almost as it is.
The situation
The draft is rewritten from scratch every time.
What you do
- Saves the one that worked as a template
What you get
The next one takes a minute.
This article answers
- have the ai write an email
- drafting a client reply with ai
- summarising for management with ai
- ai-generated message template