Caught using ChatGPT to write email

[Jidemummu199]

I don't normally use it to write emails just to structute blog outlines. So I had ever used it to write any text until then. I heard a lot of people have been using it for emails and I was curious to give it a try. Nothing else. The thing is what I didn't know the header and footer prompt responses were visible until I had already hit send about 15 minutes later. I immediately sent an brief apology to my colleague. We are normally very close and we think very highly of each other. So now I'm now concerned that this will make them think lesser of me. I will go into the office tomorrow and I'm nervous to see them. My husband tells me not to worry it happens. But do you think I'm worrying over nothing? One thing for sure is that I won't be trying it for emails again!

I don’t see the problem? As long as you weren’t using sensitive data, it just makes you more efficient

It would make me laugh but that's only because I could see myself doing exactly the same thing.

I use it all the time at work, it's really helpful, just make sure you proof read and say thanks at the end (I'm hoping it will remember I used my manners when we are in a terminator situation!!!)

To my way of thinking, using AI for simple emails is actually LESS efficient and a waste of time. You have to type in the prompts, copy and paste the answer into a blank email, then check and edit it before sending.
Much quicker just to type your own email.

I would think less of someone using AI for this: for wasting time, and letting their brain atrophy.
However, I am sure your colleague will be fine about it, no-one is perfect. So no need to worry.

Just write your own emails in future.

Surely the problem is not being judged for using ChatGPT, but being judged for just copy and pasting it, including the prompts, without any proofreading.

Apparently people saying thanks has been costing the company millions of dollars. I used to do it myself until I read an article about it.

Nice! 😊

Shock horror I am a lawyer and I have used AI, it can really help on a variety of things: for instance:
As a starting point.
For structure
Formulate an idea
Summarise texts

I even used it to write my resignation letter for my last job, which I edited before sending. I don't put in client confidential information, and I always verify from reputable sources any information it provides.

Seriously I wouldn't worry about using it to draft emails to colleagues, especially as your company has been pushing their staff to utilise it.

The thing is I proofread and edited the drafted email. I think what happened was that my laptop screen was too small. So I didn't see the extra bit of header/footer text. My mistake.

I find the key is to ask the AI to rewrite its first draft 3 to 4 times asking for different tone, shorter, fewer words etc. Then I take different sections from each draft to create the final product. It's a little more time but still quicker than not using AI when I gave writer's block or am trying to rewrite a promotion for something and have exhausted my creative energy trying to write the same promotion twenty different ways.

Also if you don't just copy and paste huge chunks of text but shorter selections at a time you have less risk of including something that's wrong or a prompt etc

To be honest, it wasn't. I'll just stick to blog outlines.

Chat GPT writes all my emails beyond the quick one liners. I don't feed any personal info into it: just provide a scenario and then copy the draft into an email. It structures messages better than I do 😊

Why anyone would less of me is ..... puzzling. But just to annoy such folk even more, I wash the clothes in something called an automatic washing machine, rather than put them all in the bath and then through the mangle. Hopeless, I am: can't do owt for meself!

Yeah..... I'm not taking that risk!!! I'm working on the theory manners will at least put me at the back of the terminator queue!!

I tend to sign off with "Kind regards", or "Warm wishes".

What did you all do before AI did it all for you? How bad were your emails that you need a robot to write them for you?

I work in a university. Using AI to help with emails/reports/minutes is commonplace here and actively encouraged to improve efficiency. Students using it, not so much!

I don't see what all the stress is about OP.

You tell your colleague you were experimenting with using AI to upgrade your emails, be more efficient and save time, but still learning, hence the mistake.

I really can't see why any employer or colleague would object to you using available tools to improve your performance and efficiency.

Honestly, nothing to worry about here.

Your regular reminder that ChatGPT is not "artificial intelligence". It is autocomplete on steroids, or more accurately, a bullshit machine (thebullshitmachines.com/) By all means use it, but you have to own the mistakes that it makes, and it makes a lot when things get complicated.

On the other hand, when what you need is bullshit (and to be fair, most of us need to write bullshit from time to time), it can't be beaten. Say, if you need to update your LinkedIn status. https://x.com/Russwarne/status/1827022789833884096

We are actively encouraged to see how we can use AI to our benefit at work.

Like others have said, at my work we’re encouraged to use it as much as possible!! If I received an email like that, I’d prob reply “thanks ChatGPT” and a wink or a lol!

I think this has probably happened in offices all over the country. If it’s part of your workflow anyway then I think it’s a given you will use it for other things unless that’s against company policy. I don’t think your colleague will think less of you - I assume it was a work email and not something like ‘sorry to hear your dog died’. If they mention it just say you were trying it out as you thought it might make drafting emails more efficient

My Gmail accounts use Gemini to help me write emails.

I've actually used ChatGPT to help me plan days out.

I have loads of email templates that I send time and time again . If I have any long arse ones that need doing it in the future I'll certainly be getting AI to do them ,not because I can't do it myself, but because it can do it quicker and my times free for other less tedious things that specifically need me t99 d them.

I agree, I use it daily and every piece of information needs to be checked due the amount of mistakes. The latest updates make even more mistakes than previous versions - I think the official rate is now almost 50% (as reported by the companies that make them). They work by predicting what is “most likely” to be said next, not what is “most true”. So everyone beware 😅