Drafting from notes

Unit ID: AIT-M04-U00 Estimated active time: 15-20 minutes

The main idea

AI can turn rough safe notes into a first draft, but you must check meaning.

This is one of the safest uses in the course, because the content comes from you. The tool is arranging your material rather than supplying its own.

Why this matters

Drafting from notes fails in one direction: the draft is smoother than your notes and slightly different from them. Smoothness hides the change.

Safe example

Rough points become a short update email for a project team.

Five bullets go in. Four paragraphs come out, and one of them contains a sentence you did not write and did not notice.

Better working habit

Give purpose, audience, tone, and what not to add.

The last of those is the one people leave out. "Do not add any commitment, date, or name that is not in my notes" is a single line and prevents most of the trouble.

What to watch for

Do not let the tool invent decisions, promises, names, or deadlines.

These are the four that cause real problems, because a reader will act on them.

Mini practice

Turn five safe bullet points into a short draft and mark what you would edit.

Then find any sentence in the draft that is not traceable to one of your five bullets.

Check yourself

Before moving on, answer:

• Is every fact in the draft traceable to my notes?
• Has any suggestion become a commitment?
• Did I say what must not be added?