How to Save Hours on Email with AI

Public servants spend hours every week wrestling with email — during Apolitical's latest AI Skills Lab event, 46% of attendees reported sending up to 25 emails a day. So, the session asked a simple question: what if you could work smarter and win some of that time back? In a brisk and practical 30-minute talk, political communications expert Dr. Stuart Thomson shared how AI can help public servants draft emails faster, sharpen tone and handle tricky replies with confidence.

Here are the top six takeaways from the session.

1. Treat AI as your writing assistant, not your replacement

AI is not a stand-in for your judgement or experience. As Dr. Thomson said:

"It's a tool, it's not a replacement for you or your expertise, your understanding of the issues that you deal with, but a tool that you can use."

So remember, AI can give you a solid first draft, sometimes even a third or fifth, but the final word is always yours.

2. The golden rules of email still matter

AI is powerful, but it can’t replace good writing fundamentals. Dr. Thomson reminded attendees that the basics remain non-negotiable:

• BLUF (bottom line up front) – lead with the key message.
• Avoid jargon – AI loves fancy phrasing, so watch out for unnecessary fluff.
• Consider length – long drafts creep in easily, especially with AI. Keep it tight.
• Clarity above all – your expertise provides the precision AI can’t.

These rules apply whether you write alone or with digital help.

3. Build better prompts by asking the right questions

You’ll get a stronger email draft if you tell the AI exactly what you need. Before you start, ask yourself:

• What do I want the recipient to know?
• What do I want them to do?
• What tone suits the situation?
• Does this reflect my role, my personality and the “humanity” of how I normally write?

Then tell the AI all of this. Give it the audience, the purpose, the desired tone and any house style you use. The more specific you are, the better the output will be.

4. Prompts that actually work

Great prompts lead to great drafts. Dr. Thomson offered four simple, reliable ways to prompt AI that you can start using tomorrow:

• Drafting: “Write a professional email explaining [topic] in a clear, concise tone.”
• Tightening: “Rewrite this email to make it 30% shorter but keep the tone respectful.”
• Tone: “Rewrite this to sound polite but firm, avoiding bureaucratic language.”
• Replies: “Draft a calm, professional response to a complaint about [issue].”

5. Personalise every draft, because tone matters

AI saves time, but it can wander into flowery language, optimism bias or slightly odd phrasing. Look carefully for anything that doesn’t feel like you, whether that’s overly sweet sign-offs, jargon you would never use or paragraphs that feel too long. Always add your own voice and context.

This helps avoid creating robotic or generic messages and maintains the human connection that builds trust with colleagues and stakeholders.

6. Start small and build confidence — today

One of Dr. Thomson’s strongest tips was wonderfully simple: try one AI-generated email tomorrow.

Use it as a first draft, experiment with prompts and see what helps. Over time, you’ll build a set of trusted prompts and a sense of when AI is most useful for your emails. As Dr. Thomson said: “Kick it around a bit!”

Watch the highlights and register for an upcoming AI Skills Lab session

Catch the highlights video below to see these tips in action. Or visit the event page for the full recording, resources and speaker bios.

If you enjoyed these insights, make sure to join us at the upcoming AI Skills Lab sessions! We’ll be learning how to use AI for Policymaking on Nov 25, 2025 and how to use AI for Time Management on Dec 16, 2025.

This article was written with the help of AI using an anonymised transcript and edited by a human before publishing.