You already know how to use AI.
If you’ve ever asked a coworker for a favor, you have the only skill this takes. There are five sentences people say across a desk every day — and every one of them works on an AI, exactly as spoken.
The examples below are deliberately tiny and obviously fake — that’s on purpose. Learn the move on snack orders, and you’ll recognize it in your own spreadsheets by Friday.
LEVEL 1
One thing, one ask
The five sentences
LEVEL 2
Two sources, one question
Where the money is
LEVEL 3
The same job, every week
Asks become recipes
TRY IT RIGHT NOW · 30 SECONDS · NOBODY HAS TO KNOW
Open any AI chat you have access to and paste this:
“Write a short, friendly work email for me: I can’t make Tuesday, I’d like to propose Thursday at 2pm instead, and I’m sorry for the shuffle.”Read what comes back. Edit one sentence if you want. That feeling of “oh, that’s all it is”? That’s the whole page.
LEVEL 1
One thing, one ask
You’re ready right now. Each of these takes one file or one thought, and one sentence.
01
DRAFT“Can you write it up?”
You know what needs saying — you just don’t want to spend twenty minutes making it sound right. Hand over the bullet points; get back a draft you edit and send.
- can’t make Tuesday
- propose Thursday 2pm instead
- sorry for the hassle
02
SUMMARIZE“What does this actually say?”
Contracts, policies, that 14-page PDF from corporate. Somebody has to read it. It no longer has to be you — ask for the plain-language version, then spot-check the parts that matter.
“Perishable items introduced into the communal refrigeration unit shall bear affixed identification of ownership. Items lacking said identification, or exceeding a residency of five (5) business days, shall be subject to disposal during the weekly sanitation cycle occurring each Friday at 16:00.”
03
EXTRACT“Can you pull out the details?”
The information exists — it’s just buried in a rambling email, a scanned form, or someone’s meeting notes. Ask for it as a tidy list and it comes out structured.
“hey! mtg w/ Sam moved to Tues 3pm, re: Q2 budget. bring the vendor numbers & coffee ☕”
04
COMPARE“Why don’t these two match?”
Every office has two lists that should agree and don’t — and checking them by hand is the job everyone avoids. This is where AI finds actual money. Hand over both lists; get back exactly what doesn’t line up.
ORDERED
Apples ×10
Granola ×6
Pretzels ×12
Seltzer ×24
DELIVERED
Apples ×10
Granola ×6
Pretzels ×8
Seltzer ×24
05
RETRIEVE“Can you find out and get back to me?”
Prices, options, what competitors charge, how other companies handle a policy. Ask, and it comes back organized instead of as forty open browser tabs.
“Find me three red staplers under $15.”
LEVEL 2
Two sources, one question
You’re ready when you’ve tried three of the five sentences on something real and checked the answers yourself.
The bigger wins come from pointing AI at two workbooks at once. These are the same moves chained together, and every one hands back something you can verify against the originals.
Find the exceptions
COMPARE- YOU HAND IT
- This month’s timeclock export and the payroll register.
- YOU ASK
- “Which people don’t match between these two?”
- YOU GET BACK
- A short exception list with the reason for each: on one file but not the other, hour totals that differ, a name that appears twice.
Spot the pattern
COMPARE + SUMMARIZE- YOU HAND IT
- A year of weekly sales by location and the staffing schedule workbook.
- YOU ASK
- “Do sales dip in the weeks we ran short-staffed?”
- YOU GET BACK
- The pattern in plain English, with the specific weeks that prove or disprove it. Sometimes the answer is “no pattern,” and that is worth knowing too.
Plan from history
COMPARE + DRAFT- YOU HAND IT
- Last year’s order history and the current inventory counts.
- YOU ASK
- “Build me a reorder plan for next quarter.”
- YOU GET BACK
- A draft plan: what to order, how much, when, plus the two items trending up that history alone would miss. You adjust it; you know things the spreadsheets don’t.
Explain the variance
COMPARE + SUMMARIZE + DRAFT- YOU HAND IT
- The budget workbook and the actuals workbook.
- YOU ASK
- “Where are we off plan, and is it timing or a real trend?”
- YOU GET BACK
- A short variance story per department, with one-time surprises separated from things that will keep happening. The version your boss actually reads.
Merge the masters
COMPARE + EXTRACT- YOU HAND IT
- The customer list from billing and the customer list from sales.
- YOU ASK
- “Make one clean list and show me every conflict.”
- YOU GET BACK
- One merged list, plus a conflicts tab for you to settle: same company under two names, two different addresses, the contact who left in March.
LEVEL 3
The same job, every week
You’re ready when you catch yourself typing the same ask a second time.
Here’s the level-three secret: a good ask, written down, is a recipe. Save it. Next week, hand over the new files and use the same words. You’ve just written a standard operating procedure for your new assistant — and refining it a little each time is the whole skill.
The month-end packet
- THE RECURRING JOB
- Every month: the same four spreadsheets need reconciling and summarizing for the close.
- YOUR SAVED ASK
- “Compare these the usual way: match totals, flag exceptions, one-paragraph summary per file.”
- WHAT CHANGES
- Month two takes minutes, not the afternoon. The recipe gets sharper every close.
The Monday report
- THE RECURRING JOB
- Every week: last week’s numbers and notes become the status update your team expects.
- YOUR SAVED ASK
- “Same format as last week: wins, numbers vs. plan, blockers, next week. Keep it under a page.”
- WHAT CHANGES
- A consistent report that reads like you, because you edited the recipe until it did.
The action register
- THE RECURRING JOB
- Every meeting: decisions and to-dos scatter into notes and are never seen again.
- YOUR SAVED ASK
- “Add this meeting’s commitments to the running list: who, what, when due. Resurface anything overdue.”
- WHAT CHANGES
- One living list instead of eleven forgotten ones. The follow-up person becomes you, effortlessly.
Three ground rules
1. You check everything. AI drafts, flags, and finds — you decide. Nothing on this page acts without a person reading it first. That’s not a limitation; it’s why you can trust the whole arrangement.
2. Practice on fake data, and know your company’s rules before using real data. Learn the moves on invented snack orders and made-up staplers. Before real names, numbers, or customer information ever goes into an AI tool, check with your IT department and read your company’s AI policy — many workplaces have approved tools for exactly this reason. When in doubt, ask first. It’s a five-minute conversation that keeps your wins from becoming incidents.
3. Revisions are free. Asking a coworker for a third rewrite costs you something socially. Asking AI costs nothing — it never sighs. “Shorter.” “Friendlier.” “Try again as a table.” This is the superpower nobody tells beginners about.
COMING EVENTUALLY
There’s a sixth sentence: “Can you handle this every week?”
That one’s different — it’s where AI stops being a favor and starts being a teammate. I’m building toward it in the open, one project at a time. Meanwhile, at the top of this ladder: I put three frontier AIs through the same exam — three models, one judge.
That’s the whole thing: five sentences, three levels, and the rules of trust. Enough to start tomorrow morning — and the first one takes thirty seconds.
These are personal learning notes shared for education, not professional advice. Every example uses invented data. Your judgment, and your company’s policies, always come first.